Olawale Afolabi vs. Tony Bellew

Kryptonite has called out Bomber on social media, posting this:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd...._=1426965766_2644149bcc74cd97ea6cbf6820d9bd24

The domestic scene @ 200lbs is really thin. You have the newcomers from 175lbs in Bellew & Cleverly, plus Afolabi himself, and twelve loss McKenzie who is new to CW himself and barely over a year removed from getting knocked out by Maccarinelli...but who technically does hold the Commonwealth & British titles, putting him at least nominally atop the heap for now. Beyond those four? Nothing but green unbeaten prospects and former prospects gone bust (already defeated by McKenzie and/or each other). :verysad

Bellew vs. Afolabi would probably crown the de facto #1 British Cruiser, even if the de jure remained McKenzie until deposed.

 

Most top cruisers internationally yes. Within the scope of just the UK, though, he might be the 2nd best h2h behind Afolabi currently, and #3 overall since you have to put McKenzie at #1 until Afolabi or Bellew or someone - Macca in a rematch, licking his wounds and returning from light heavy, for instance - relieves him of his belts. (having both the Commonwealth and British at once makes you pretty much the man in a weight class in GB)

 

:good

Gave him absolute hell twice.

Even the rubber match wasn't totally one-sided, although it was Afolabi's worst performance in the series by far.

 

Big fan of Denis but he shouldnt be remarking on anyone's weird looking face. :!:

 

I always kind of thought Bellew vs. Chilemba I was reminiscent of the Huck vs. Afolabi trilogy, and harken back to it as my reference point for this with Afolabi being larger and just overall better (at his best) than Chilemba.

In both cases you had Bellew and Huck deeply frustrated by someone with an iron chin and high work rate posting up in front of them and taking away the play by countering every punch thrown, making them miss a great deal of them, and not being phased by the rest.



...then again, if Afolabi thinks lowly enough of Bellew from watching his campaign at cruiser so far to not train very hard or think he'll be able to coast lazily... (and knowing Ola, you can't put that past him) :think

 

Well suffice to say neither Bellew nor Lebedev is going to be lying on the beach to pose for any calendars or adopting Sergio Gabriel Martinez's other nickname besides "Maravilla" any time soon. :yep

 

Incidentally, did Tony in fact refer to himself as "king of UK cruiserweights" after the Cleverly rematch?

If so, he really needs to heed Afolabi's call-out. Afolabi is the only British cruiser to have enjoyed any success at world level. (his draw in Huck II and defeats of Maccarinelli - and hell, even Brudov, Janik & Suda for that matter - trumping anything the rest of the field has done...ie Askin getting smashed by Glowacki...or the collective half dozen names faced by Cleverly, Bellew and McKenzie at the weight)