i wouldnt know, i didnt watch the first fight just like i didnt watch the fight last night, ive literally no interest in being told by news corp what i should consider a TOP FIGHT. unfortunately we've now generations who've been brainwashed by the s*y pr machine. matchruse have used bellew as a vultures beak to pick clean the bones of the corpse of haye the boxer and tell you all that this is a GREAT FIGHT. it isnt and wasnt, haye checked out mentally the best part of a decade ago, physically he cannot compete. a quick scan of this forum shows that this 'fight' has just disappointed or upset people. no one wins bellew is not a bad boxer at all and i would have liked to see him really push himself and try to kick on once he became euro then world champion in a stacked, competitive and high profile division (when could we last say that about crusier?) instead in the last 3 years hes fought a nightclub owner and a man too injured to stand or throw a punch in a series of contemptuously executed tv stunts. if anyone has harmed their 'legacy' its bellew. contrast that attitude to another famous liverpool fighter conteh, although at light heavy, was lauded, and rightly so by his attempts to take on the best right till the end in an era when there werent so many easy belts to pick up. of course, bellew has made money (there isnt any to be made at cruiser these days? the saudis have thrown millions at the wbss) and although i dont begrudge him taking the easy route, i also have no interest in the way he has gone about it, i do believe you should earn that money. boxing is also entertainment, but when there are enough MUGS clamoring to see we are served up shite like this instead of the best fighting each other then this is what we get. i wont watch it, for me it is not serious, just cynical esp when you watch how this BEEF or whatever stupid terms are banded around has been engineered. and if that means that some forum poster has to jot me down in his little book of NOT TRUE FIGHT FANS, then i guess i just have to live with it.
In the old days the Bellew-Haye fights would be good as eliminators for the British heavyweight title. Saturday afternoon on BBC's Grandstand. That's the level. It's outrageous that boxing fans have been conditioned to regard these as PPV fights.
You make some fair points mate. What I will say is almost everyone predicted that Haye would smash Bellew in that first fight. In the build up to it you could argue that many thought that a fight with a heavyweight as lethal as Haye was more dangerous than anyone at cruiserweight. In the second fight, once again, the majority and the bookies had Haye winning this fight easily. Once again, Bellew proved them wrong. I would like him to fight Usyk then retire personally, but...I don’t believe he has ruined his legacy at all by smashing a British boxing icon, twice.
I think he wants Ward or Fury. I don't think he has any interest in fighting Usyk, and to be honest, I don't blame. You gotta look at it from his perspective, he's getting close to retirement age and he's never going to earn this kind of money ever again, so of course he's going to want to cash in for the biggest payday possible, but at the same time a fight that isn't go to put him at too much risk. Bellew-Usyk, that's just not a fight that is an easy sell to the masses. Even Bellew-Ward I think he's overestimating how much that fight will sell. Now Bellew-Fury, that will sell, and it is a fight that Bellew believes, rightly or wrongly, he can win.
fair points. the main point of contention i have is that this is all turned onto haye, its hayes fault. i see it the other way. i like both of these fighters , but haye already has his legacy, he was a bit of a phenomenon who smashed the cruisers and had his moment in the sun at HW also. sadly there are still a few question marks for whatever reason, but essentially he is respected as having been at the top of something at somepoint. bellew was on the cusp of doing something similar but rather than build his own hes attempted to steal legitimacy by fighting someone known and who is well past their best. ask yourself why there isnt a british fighter in the wbss, despite bellew holding one of the belts. because a little birdy has had a word in his ear and told him he can take these tough fights, but we dont know what you will earn / become etc (im not promoting it), or we've got this guy whos so desperate for cash and fame right now that he'd suck off a horse for a tenner and our research dept has told us there is a large demographic clamoring for it, if only you could act like a total balloon, and manufacture some serious hatred with him for no obvious reason, we'll control the lot and we will promote you as a legend to the right market. this whole thing has been a sideshow from start to sorry finish.
Absolutely spot on yet some on here don't believe that Sky/Matchroom planned all of this including the ringside acting in Liverpool to reel in the PPV mugs. Sky/Hearn/Bellew/Haye all made a fortune out of the unsuspecting cohort of PPV mugs who have no idea pre fight that they are being mugged.