how do you see bellew doing against worldclass opposition

Well as for the miranda fight Bellew gave him too much respect the bolonti fight he was too eager to get him out and payed for it, if hed stuck to his boxing the stoppage may have come, in fact the cut was a blessing in disguise and got him back to his boxing.

If he fought Pascal it might end up a fight of to halfs

 

He was a ABA HW because (by his own admission) he was a big fat kid who didn't train. When he got older his body developed, he started training and packed on some muscle so his body started evening out naturally.

The reason he couldn't make the weight against Cleverly was fairly straight forward. I challenge ANYBODY to lose over a stone in 48 hours. He'd have ****ing killed himself doing that for sure. He should never have even agreed to step in so late, the only reason he did was because at the time he thought it would be his only ever chance of fighting Cleverly.

Bellew, when he has a full training camp, doesn't appear to have any problems making 175lbs.

 

I'm not as big on Bellew as a fighter as a lot on here and I think he's probably approaching his ceiling. He can obviously bang a fare bit although I don't think he has the type of power to hurt guys at world-level with single shots, and he's got good fundamentals and a nice array of punches to his arsenal, good footwork etc.

My issue with him is when he starts looking for the homerun punch as others have said. I think he falls in love with his power at times and starts looking for the Hollywood shot. Normally when he does this he ends up telegraphing right hand lead after right hand lead and neglects the fact that he has really good composite punching skills that could lead him to breaking down many a good opponent. Not sure how to feel about his chin either, but I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think it's iron but I reckon he can take a dig when needs be and I wouldn't worry about chucking him in with punchers.

As far as the names you mentioned, I think he beats them all if he is at his best and it all comes together, if he boxes maturely, utilizes all his skills and stops looking for the homerun shot. I think he'd beat Shumenov right now if he boxes to his best, and he could potentially do Cloud too. Dawson presuming at 175 he's still the man that he was (and he actually turns up) is a step too far IMO. Hopkins would be too wiley for him still at this stage too, and he'd struggle with Pascal though I think he could potentially win that one. He can do Cleverly in a rematch as well, especially as his opposition is stagnating, but if he ends up at the Wildcard working with Roach, and increases his level of opposition I think he turns up a better fighter too and that makes it a much more difficult fight.

 

I was agreeing with you.

 

I know, I was just getting the point across even more. :good

 

Well you convinced me!!:hey

The problem with this line of thinking is that as soon as Bellew loses he'll blame it on making 175, because thats what fighters tend to do. He'll move up to Cruiserweight and we'll get the "I told you so's" about the weight difficulties until he gets banjoed fighting for the European Cruiserweight title about 9 months later.

 

I think Bellew has improved a lot in the past few years. It was only 6 fights ago that he was knocked down twice against McKenzie, and who would have thought that Bellew could have given Cleverly such a good fight or beaten Miranda? I know Miranda is past his best but there are obvious signs of progression there.

I'm looking forward to seeing him progress even more. I see no reason why he can't be a world champion in the future. In fact, if they fought in the summer, I'd pick Bellew to beat Cleverly in a rematch.

 

Depends really whether or not he can stick to a strict gameplan over 12 rounds. In the last few fights (and even against Cleverley) I have seen nothing to say he cant do it.

I personally would like to see him do it, but I dont think he will, its a step to far, elite level, and he does slack-off at mad times during fights, its pretty weird when he does it, and IMO he could be made to pay at the highest level. If you have the chance to finish a fight, YOU DO NOT step back......you leave yourself open + your self assurance and over-calmness could see you finished in return. Karma is a *****. Boxing works like this sometimes.

It aint smart. You should grab the opportunity even if its just a whiff of potential glory, because if you still go on to lose the fight, you go out on your shield. Nobody can tell you, you didnt bring it and try. If you win through it however, nobody can take it away from you, you took it to the beast, went to the belly of the beast, and brought it back home as soon as you had the chance.

Does Tony Bellew take his chances?

 

Dawson beat Johnson a couple of years before Froch went life and death with weight drained Johnson.

Tarver recently kod Danny green

Hopkins schooled Pascal

Those "old men" still had some in the tank

Those "old men" would have been too much for bellew, and cleverly for that matter

 

lets see who they have lined up for him next - its supposed to be a final eliminator

 

Tony has the skillset to win a world title but I'd like his defence a little tighter

 

They may have had something in the tank but its the way that he won that leaves questions, What was in Dawsons tank?? If he was as good as some think youd expect better.

Each of those guys were well suited for Dawson stylewise, plus i had Johnson winning one. Dawson likes to fight at his own pace, the likes of Cleverly wont give him that luxary.

 

I agree billy as well as himsticking to his boxing

 

Dawson has made a career by beating past best old LHWs, the only time he fought a young top prime LHW, who wasnt weak at the weight, he got beat.
Why does Chad Dawson get a pass for fighting shot old fighters time and time again?
Look at Dawsons recent fights.

Hopkins 47
Hopkins 46
Diaconu 32
Pascal (he lost)
Johnson 40
Tarver 40
Tarver 39
Johnson 39

So why does he get a pass for this?

While I read that Dawson was being KOd by Miranda in sparring, Bellew was was stopping Miranda in a pro bout

 

Really hope bellew fights a quality fighter next and not some bum with a ranking