Tony Bellew talksport "One fight away from being best light heavy in the world

If Tony Bellew win's he is not Number 1, Nathan Cleverly has already beaten him! In his home town!

If Tony Bellew wins, he needs to then face Nathan Cleverly & Bernard Hopkins "If he is still around" to see who is number 1.

 

Anyone who beats Dawson is the best light heavyweight in the world, so I don't see why anyone would take issue with what Bellew said. Dawson is 'the man' and if Bellew beats him, he becomes the number 1 in the division.

As for those doubting Bellew's record, he's beaten Chilemba and I thought he had a very close fight with Cleverly. Considering he's only had 22 pro fights, that's good going, I think. Bellew might not reach his prime until he's had another 8 fights or more, so he's got a long way to go yet but the signs are good for him. The thing which impresses me most about Bellew is his ability to learn, improve and formulate different styles. to counteract different opposition.

Going back to Dawson, for all the praise he deserves, the one major flaw in his game is his mentality. Get him at Goodison or a big venue elsewhere in Britain and if 20,000 fans are booing him, he won't like it. Of all the genuine elite fighters in the world right now, he's the most mentally flawed and prone to crumbling. Look at how the crowd affected him against Pascal. Bellew has a chance stylistically but if Hearn can get Dawson over to England, that will be a massive bonus.

 

V unlikely Hearn gets him here I think, but I'd like to see it

 

Yeah, I agree it's unlikely. PPV is the only way that these really big fights can happen but I'm not sure whether enough people would buy it to be financially possible. I suppose the other option is to try and sell out a massive venue, like an outdoor show at Goodison,

 

Bellew-Dawson is not in that bracket!

 

No, bull****. If he beats Dawson he's no.1. He beat the man who beat the man.

 

Most people didn't believe that Bellew beat Cleverley, even in the post fight interview Tony said that he hadn't done enough

 

Nope, Nathan Cleverly is unbeaten and has beaten Tony Bellew in his home town.

There is no clear number 1 at light heavyweight, Dawson was beaten by Pascal, Pascal has one draw with Hopkins and one defeat.

To be number 1, Bellew has to beat Dawson, Cleverly and Hopkins.."If he still has that belt at the time".

 

If you are talking lineal champion, then no, he's not.....but that subject at LHW is a minefield and best avoided

 

A lot must hinge on the result of the fight between Dawson and Stevenson.As has been pointed out,Stevenson may have a problem getting into the country.Personally,I don't have a clue whether its as difficult for anybody with a record to come this way across the pond as the other.He certainly was talking about coming for Froch,and I think he'd come for Bellew,maybe underestimating him a bit also.Dawson,I feel,could want a lot more money.In either case,as I said before Chilemba 2,Tony has a fair chance IMO,especially at home.

 

Being unbeaten doesn't mean ****.
Dawson was stopped on a cut by Pascal, who has beaten Glen Johnson, Adamek (who was no1 at the time), Tarver x2 and Hopkins! I don't understand how you can say he's not number one at 175 with Hopkins (who he's beat), Cleverly - who's fought mainly road sweepers and Shumenov - got schooled by Campillo.

 

Not talking lineal, no, but who's the man at 175 and it's Dawson..

 

I was just pointing out that Dawson didn't beat "the man"

 

If Tony Bellew beats Chad Dawson, the fact remains that Nathan Cleverly is the WBO champion and has beaten Tony Bellew in his home town.

You cannot just ignore this fact.

Hopkins has beaten Pascal who Dawson did not beat, it's no as simple as just beating Dawson.