Pedvetkin always conducts himself well pre and post fight - if he was not a serial PED cheat, I would actually like the man.
Totally agree. Darke and McCrory were great commentators. Barry Jones is always honest and very very clued up, as you would expect. I also like Enzo Maccarinelli on the commentary.
Bellew deserves full credit for what he has achieved in his career. He took his knocks along the way and pulled some cracking wins off. I enjoyed watching his career progress. The Haye fight was no formality. There weren’t too many picking Bellew to win. His win at Goodison is one of my boxing highlights of nearly 25 years. Talk about living the dream. It can’t get much better than that, in any sport. Let’s give our fighters a bit more credit.
Bellew get's the credit he deserves, like i feel he should: -Bellew proved he is better then domestic level (In Britain known for his British showdowns). -Bellew beat Makabu for the vacated title (Nobody knows who Makabu is or who he beat). -Bellew defends his title against BJ Flores... -Bellew vacates the title... (Mairis Briedis was mandatory. Briedis now the Champion by beating Glowacki by KO!). -Bellew, moved up to heavyweight, to beat a broken David Haye 2 times. -Bellew challenges Wilder and Fury (for views). -Bellew fights Usyk and get's exposed. Bellew went in with 2 world level fighters and got stopped 2 times, by Stevenson and Usyk. These achievements are just not as great as Bellew make them and himself to be on camera.
Bellew's career perfectly sums up how farcical it is having 4 world titles. When he beat Makabu it was like that's it, he's reached the pinnacle. Just the same as beating Muhammad Ali. Nothing more to prove now he can call himself a world champion. Forget that it was for a vacant belt and you'd be very hard pushed for Makabu to be a top 10 CW. Before winning that world title I wouldn't hear a word against him, ever since he's been insufferable and his fights a complete joke. If it wasn't for that paper title he would've gone on to fight the best in the division, and it would've been great to see.
Makabu’s unbeaten since that fight, and is now the WBC world champ....albeit in similar fashion to how Bellew won it (vacant). I supported him during his career. I knew he was a bit of a whopper but rated him more than most. I was put off by his post fight stuff after Haye 2, and although I cheered him on against Usyk, I was further put off after that fight as well. Bellew the pundit is insufferable...everyone knows he’s around the ring the way he shouts instructions to his mates in the ring....that’s the kind of culture that as sadly become the norm at Sky. Not even hiding their bias.
To be honest I think Makabu lost that fight, he had Bellew down early on and didn't respect his power. Got hurt and tried to fire back against the ropes, rather then holding and got knocked out. Not like Bellew put on a clinic. If you look on boxrec, every title he picked up/won was vacant. I was going to say I don't get how you can do that without ever beating a champion but this is boxing... It was obvious to see his level, which was a decent level. Used to like him explaining and being insightful...then joined the Sky bandwagon and that knowledge is now history.
Can't really begrudge any boxer for taking advantage of a vacant belt. Just a shame when there's no desire to then unify.
To his credit, Bellew is aware of his limitations. He knows he's obviously very good at cruiserweight but isn't the best. In an interview I heard with him, he heavily hinted the reason he took the Haye fight was because he thought he could beat Haye post 'retirement'/injuries. He wouldn't have done in his prime.
That's where the journey starts, defending and unify your accomplishments in that ring against anybody. Bellew went the money route, he claimed this in multiple interviews too. Fast forward, David Haye was already known in England, both sparred before, against a broken Haye, low risk, big reward fight, compared to the other routes. To add salt to injury, Bellew beat Haye the first time on one leg, while it already was known that Haye had ruptured his achilles tendon before the fight.
@V.Iced Bellew is a muppet but both times the majority (overwhelmingly so in the first fight) said he’d get iced. It’s not a great look discrediting them wins in retrospect. People knew Haye wasn’t the same in the lead up to the first fight but they believed he would still starch him the first time he landed.
A fit David Haye should ice Bellew any day of de week. The majority expected a fit David Haye to turn up for the fight. It all went sour when Haye´s body broke down before the first fight took place, even the media was on in to it. I wasn't surprised. The Haye 2.0 version, was nothing but marketing. People really believed that Haye would be fully fit in the second fight?, Haye had a wrecked body and had to pullout of multiple fights due to injuries... [url]https://www.boxingnewsonline.net/top-ten-david-haye-injuries/[/url] Haye needed the money (claimed by Hearn) and was already 37 years old at the time of the second Bellew fight, i believe. Haye vs Bellew were perfect low risk, high reward fights for the both of them.
