Can we all Agree Bellew is criminally underrated?

Agree with the op. Bellew is and has been underrated for a while. Looking at his career....with each win your thinking....well makabu wasn't all that proven. Cleverly wasnt great. Haye was a wreck. I kind of diminished bellew a bit. But after Saturday it kind of confirmed what I knew for a while. Bellews a quality operator. Very awkward and cagey guy to deal with. He gave usyk his toughest technical fight so far imo.

Fans are a crazy bunch....call for the star name opponents get them. Get beat. Then spend their time deriding them for getting beat and go about diminishing his career. Never been Tony's biggest fan but kind of felt on Saturday even in defeat he did eventually back up some of the big talk he's talked. Even in that eighth round...looked spent he was still going for that right hand...still trying to pull it out the bag. That and making the fight in the first place....Showed he actually was the warrior he's been claiming for so long. Went out on his shield on Saturday imo.

Usyks class operator. Technically he struggled a bit with bellew but always think watching usyk....he's one goal in mind....tire his opponent....then drown them. Essentially he done exactly what he came to do on Saturday. He's pretty much conquered the cruiserweight division. The heavyweight will be a different ball game tho. I think his biggest problem will be gassing more so than the bigger guys. Seen a lot of people saying he,all gas the big guys out. I reckon it,ll be the other way about. These smaller guys need to work harder at the heavier weight. Even just the punches take a lot more out you if your giving away two or three stone. Be interested to see how it turns out tho. I think someone like whyte will give him a fifty/fifty fight up at heavyweight tho. Can't see him doing much with joshua tbh. He,ll make Joshua struggle badly to start with. Joshua will start to land eventually tho. The weight difference is a very hard thing to navigate.

 

So you didn't see any of the little adjustments Usyk was making? I think Malignaggi even pointed a few out for you, watch it again with the volume up and more importantly keep an eye on Usyk's feet and positioning. Bellew was under immense pressure because of Usyk's subtle but incredibly effective footwork, he was being made to work harder than he has ever done just to maintain position and land the odd potshot (most of which Usyk rode anyway). He's technically superior and as we found out can bang when he chooses to set his feet.

Briedis didn't suffer the same fate because he is a better technician than Tony as well as being more powerful and durable. Briedis pushed Usyk close while Bellew got his neck bounced off the bottom rope in a nasty KO. If they had a rematch Bellew would be out of there in 3, Usyk learned more about Bellew in a few rounds than Bellew would learn about him in 10 fights.

Tony himself is making no excuses, I have no idea why his fans are - not that gassing or being unfit is an excuse when you're a professional athlete anyway.

 

whilst you are totally correct about what you say it was also blatantly obvious tony was shot after 5-6 rounds.

There's no excuses, he was beat fair and square I'm just looking for a reason for why he ended up on the canvass. The first 4 he was much better than the following rounds and the biggest contributing factor was his engine wasn't up to par.

I'm not saying usyk didn't start to figure him out but it was more Bellews capitulation rather than usyks genius that ended the fight.

That's not an excuse, just a reason, of course he should have been 12 round fit but that was hardly likely given his lack of action in the last few years.

 

I will keep repeating this point, I believe it is important looking at Bellews career now it's finished..

Bellew never beat a reigning champion at any level, every title from British to World he won was vacant.

I believe that is significant when weighing up his career and achievements.

 

Very valid point. He was hyped meticulously, originally by Warren and under performing in early fights where his power was so highly lauded, then later with Hearn. On top of the matchmaking and hype, he always hyped himself up immeasurably. However, despite all this, I was seriously impressed by his performance against Usyk and despite the loss pleased for him to go out in such style.

 

Been getting pelters from scousers on twitter for suggesting that Bellews career is on a par with Stuey Hall's.
North West tonight (BBC local news) did an slot on him on Monday night, ending with the line "Bellew goes down as one of the greatest British Boxers of his generation". Oh come off it. He made the most of his ability, and over acheived, but stop creating this legend that isn't true.

 

Good fighter but not even the best Liverpool has produced in reality - impressive how lucrative his career has turned out to be. He can thank David Haye for that...those press conferences put Bellew on the map.

 

Definitely not elite.

Never world class either - just a tier below IMO.

 

1. Elite - No
2. Warrior - No
3. Stamina - Poor
4. PPV Fighter - Never
5. Conman - Yes
6. Rich - Yes

 

Impressed by what?
1. The war he had with Usyk?
2. The George Groves type effort against Froch in fight 1?
3. His negative body movements moving away from any engagement all fight?
4. His David Price stamina?
5. Getting heavily decked?
6. Getting up off the floor to continue?

George Groves and Bellew had much to say pre fight before the Froch fight 1 and Usyk respectively.

Groves put in a cracking performance and Bellew was simply very poor as expected.

 

Conman is a bit harsh - did talk a better fight than he fought on a number of occasions but can’t begrudge a fighter for that. He oversold his achievements to get money fights but so what...it’s his career at the end of the day and at least he can back it up to some extent with a world title as well as British, commonwealth and European titles.

 

Bellew in conjunction with Toe Productions created a fake rivalry, fake rehearsed acting with both knowing well in advance of the first fight that Haye would have to be carried due to career ending injuries in 2013.

Both fleeced the unsuspecting PPV Mugths and that makes both conmen.

 

A popular fighter who has been managed very very well.

Fought two elite fighters , stopped by both.

Fought against B level fighters his whole career and made a lot of money.

Modern day Ricky Hatton or just a bit below.

 

Bellew to many is Boxthing's modern day version of Gerald Ratner

 

Just like to add to this post..


Bellew has fought 3 reigning champions and lost to all 3, Cleverly and Stevenson and Usyk by stoppage.


That should put all this "British Boxing Legend" in to some perspective.