Former cruiserweight titleholder Tony ‘Bomber’ Bellew 30-2-1 (20) is adamant that his fight against undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 15-0 (11) will be the last of his career, win, lose or draw. Well, maybe.
“If I don’t stop after this she [his wife Rachael] is going to divorce me! We’ve only been married a few months. I don’t fancy getting divorced, it’s not part of the plan,” laughed Bellew at a press conference in Manchester on Monday to officially announce the fight.
“She’ll probably be watching this. Babe, I promise you this is – maybe – the last one!”
The 35-year-old Liverpudlian will challenge Ukraine’s Usyk, 31, for his WBA, IBF, WBC and WBO crowns at Manchester Arena on November 10.
Southpaw Usyk unified his WBO belt with the other three major titles through his participation in the inaugural World Boxing Super Series tournament, defeating Marco Huck, Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev to be crowned undisputed cruiserweight champion.
“I was on my honeymoon and for one reason or another I was watching Oleksandr beat up Murat Gassiev on a mobile phone,” said Bellew.
“The fight stops, and then he makes the ultimate sin – he says my name. And it didn’t take long. Soon as he said my name, I knew. I knew when I was watching the phone.
“The world’s going to write me off and the more you write me off, the more I want to fight. So we will see. I’m going up against the monster, the man who no-one really wants to fight, the man who just dismantles fighters and beats them easily.
“There’s only one difference when he looks in my eyes. He says he believes I am arrogant. But it is not arrogance he sees. For the first time in his whole career he sees a man looking back at him who believes he can win. I don’t just think or believe – I know. I’m going to find a way. I always do.”
The former WBC 200-pound champion, who will be moving back down to cruiserweight after back-to-back knockout wins over David Haye in the heavyweight division, believes he will have a big advantage over Usyk.
“I have the one thing he doesn’t have, and that’s a punch that can switch lights off within the blink of an eye. Just one wrong step, one wrong manoeuvre, and it’s over,” said Bellew.
Usyk praised Bellew for his fighting spirit.
“I’ll tell you why I chose Tony Bellew – because he is the man who takes the biggest challenges,” Usyk said.
“He is not the kind of usual boxers who come, see how hard it is and just quit. He will come [and fight] to the end. These kind of fights are something the world wants to see.”
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