Bellew speaks on Twitter post fight

[johnswan1]

"I'd like to apologise to everyone for not doing what I said I would do! I gave it everything and the better man won and that's it. Gutted.."

"The fans who travelled, ill be forever in your debt I'm truly shocked.. Like I said the better man won, no excuses. Thanks again for support".

Keep the head up Bomber and hard luck.

[TheGoods]

Class tweet from the heart. He dared to dream. I like Tony. Loads of bottle.

[whiskey]

His work rate in the Clev fight was tremendous and I was hoping he would get out the danger zone and set to work, but he got caught.

Adonis is powerful and crafty- I can't wait for Kovalev to put his head into the back row.

[palooka]

His work rate in the Clev fight was tremendous and I was hoping he would get out the danger zone and set to work, but he got caught.

Adonis is powerful and crafty- I can't wait for Kovalev to put his head into the back row.

Bellew had his moments and was boxing to a plan when he got caught, he ought to hold his head high, not many gave him a chance at all and he gave it an intelligent go.

Kovelev looked ultra destructive last night, him v Adonis is one to look forward to though he looks the heavier hitter by a fair bit.

[black panther]

Keep your chin up Tony you done well and massive respect for daring to take on the best in the world!

All the best for the future.

[Lightsoot]

Disappointed last night having stayed up to watch Tony. Felt he failed to capitalise on a decent fourth round when Stevenson looked suspect under pressure, returned to his corner with a bloodied nose and was open-mouthed. I know Tony had a gameplan, but gameplans have to change based on the pattern of a fight and he seemd unwilling and unable to divert from this, regardless of the circumstances going on around him.

Tony did well to get up from the knockdown, but having climbed to his feet his defence was dreadful and had he maintained a tighter guard he wouldn't have been clipped with the fight ending punches. Stevenson isn't that great, he's quick and hevy handed, but I don't believe he can take it like he can dish it out. Sadly, Tony was too conservative, not for the first time in his career, and all too frustratingly I doubt it will be the last, whether he elects to campaign at light-heavy or cruiser.

[lefty]

Nice touch from Tony. Acknowledged Stevenson as a fighter rather than make excuses which we see too often from fighters. I think cruiserweight might be his best bet because of his size. He'll probably be a true puncher again aswell. I watched his amateur fight with Dickinson the other day and the knockout was absolutely savage.

[keithmoonhangover]

Classy comments from Bomber. He fought the best in the division and came up short.

[hurlock]

Stevenson is some fighter!! People need to start excepting he's a modern day Tyson!!
Wiped Dawson clean out & tore apart cloud & savaged are own tony bellew the geezer is special!

[billy nelson]

Nothing to be ashamed of, I actually think Tony could win a world title at cruiser

[Lenny]

I think Boomber had the right gameplan he just didn't quite have the handspeed to pull it off. He has found finding the target a lot more difficult since stepping up. When he started opening up it just gave Stevenson the gaps he was looking for. To be fair he did all he could.

Fair play for going over there and for being honest as he often is regarding his own performances. I'm interested to see how he would fare up at cruiserweight and wouldn't write him off.

[Tykemania]

"I'd like to apologise to everyone for not doing what I said I would do! I gave it everything and the better man won and that's it. Gutted.."

"The fans who travelled, ill be forever in your debt I'm truly shocked.. Like I said the better man won, no excuses. Thanks again for support".

Keep the head up Bomber and hard luck.

The lad has a bit of class. I reckon he'll get another shot along the way too.

[forcefraser]

Classy comments from Bomber. He fought the best in the division and came up short.

Is Stevenson better than Kovalev? I don`t think so. Is he better than Hopkins?

[whiskey]

Classy comments from Bomber. He fought the best in the division and came up short.

Is Stevenson better than Kovalev? I don`t think so. Is he better than Hopkins?

Adonis is "regarded" as the best after beating the linear #1 in Chad Dawson.

Like you though, my money is Krusher.

[TopGun]

Disappointed last night having stayed up to watch Tony. Felt he failed to capitalise on a decent fourth round when Stevenson looked suspect under pressure, returned to his corner with a bloodied nose and was open-mouthed. I know Tony had a gameplan, but gameplans have to change based on the pattern of a fight and he seemd unwilling and unable to divert from this, regardless of the circumstances going on around him.

Tony did well to get up from the knockdown, but having climbed to his feet his defence was dreadful and had he maintained a tighter guard he wouldn't have been clipped with the fight ending punches. Stevenson isn't that great, he's quick and hevy handed, but I don't believe he can take it like he can dish it out. Sadly, Tony was too conservative, not for the first time in his career, and all too frustratingly I doubt it will be the last, whether he elects to campaign at light-heavy or cruiser.

I agree here. I would have liked Tony to see him change his game plan slightly, I even think he may have had quicker hands in some of the few exchanges they had. Never mind, Hindsight is always easier.

[bripez]

Nothing to be ashamed of, I actually think Tony could win a world title at cruiser

Against who ?

[J]

Disappointed last night having stayed up to watch Tony. Felt he failed to capitalise on a decent fourth round when Stevenson looked suspect under pressure, returned to his corner with a bloodied nose and was open-mouthed. I know Tony had a gameplan, but gameplans have to change based on the pattern of a fight and he seemd unwilling and unable to divert from this, regardless of the circumstances going on around him.

Tony did well to get up from the knockdown, but having climbed to his feet his defence was dreadful and had he maintained a tighter guard he wouldn't have been clipped with the fight ending punches. Stevenson isn't that great, he's quick and hevy handed, but I don't believe he can take it like he can dish it out. Sadly, Tony was too conservative, not for the first time in his career, and all too frustratingly I doubt it will be the last, whether he elects to campaign at light-heavy or cruiser.

fully agree, i think Tony probably does as well.
You dont go over to a guys home town if you dont believe you can do it, he just seemed relucant to cash in during the 4th as you state.
i aid to my father in law at the time that was his moment and now i fear it has passed.

[johnswan1]

Disappointed last night having stayed up to watch Tony. Felt he failed to capitalise on a decent fourth round when Stevenson looked suspect under pressure, returned to his corner with a bloodied nose and was open-mouthed. I know Tony had a gameplan, but gameplans have to change based on the pattern of a fight and he seemd unwilling and unable to divert from this, regardless of the circumstances going on around him.

Tony did well to get up from the knockdown, but having climbed to his feet his defence was dreadful and had he maintained a tighter guard he wouldn't have been clipped with the fight ending punches. Stevenson isn't that great, he's quick and hevy handed, but I don't believe he can take it like he can dish it out. Sadly, Tony was too conservative, not for the first time in his career, and all too frustratingly I doubt it will be the last, whether he elects to campaign at light-heavy or cruiser.

I agree completely. I was really shouting for Tony, but since the McKenzie fight he seems to have taken a safety first approach and always just seemed to want to do enough to win rounds without taking anything in return. I'm not surprised he went down that route as he was dropped heavily at domestic level and couldn't afford the same at a higher level.

I kept giving him the benefit of doubt and thinking this style was just something to help him get into a mandatory position and then we would see the real Bomber. When that chance finally came, the tactics were again to box to a plan, and as you say, sometimes that has been done with a little too much discipline.

In the end, the choice of tactics ended with him spending six rounds on the back foot and countering unsuccessfully. We never got to see what Bellew is all about and what he had trained so hard for, and to US audiences in particular, it presented him as a man full of talk only to follow it up with negativity in the ring.

Ultimately I'm not sure Bellew himself is really at fault here. I think he did his best. As for tactics, nobody could have expected him to go in and trade from the start. I think the idea of trying to make Stevenson commit, miss and pay, was sound in theory, but unfortunately Tony was unable to make it work.

What happened was that Stevenson didn't miss as often as maybe Tony thought he would, and when he did miss, he still proved too elusive for Tony to be able to catch. So did Tony not have the accuracy required or was Stevenson not so easy to hit? Probably a bit of both. Every time Tony invited him in I couldn't help but think it would just be a matter of time before he got caught.

As for Stevenson, I do think we learned a bit more about him from this fight. He's probably a more intelligent fighter and less wild than some of us thought, at least from the outside. Any time they traded I felt it was Tony's best chance of causing damage, and I think this is where Kovalev would take him out. I think question marks still remain over his ability to take a punch and it's a shame we didn't get to see that theory tested a little more.

Not to knock Tony at all, just trying to think what more he could have done, or whether different tactics could have been used. There's some criticism of his defence after the knockdown but I imagine that's something a lot more difficult to deal with after being flattened and with one of the sports biggest punchers coming forward for the finish.

I'm not a big fan of the safety first style, but it's Tony's health and future he has to consider, so I can't fault him for it and I look forward to seeing him rebuilding and having another crack in the future.

[Lenny]

He was still sticking to the gameplan in the 4th, he knew the risk of taking a heavy shot was still there and it's not as if he had Stevenson looking in any real trouble, certainly not enough to do away with the plan they had spent months working on. Unfortunately I don't think it matters when Boomer started to get more aggressive, the outcome would have been the same.

[hurlock]

Nothing to be ashamed of, I actually think Tony could win a world title at cruiser

Against who ?

A cruiserweight ?

[danconnollyeire]

Nothing to be ashamed of, I actually think Tony could win a world title at cruiser

Against who ?

A cruiserweight ?

You are a complete fvcking retard you are

[Tuan_Jim]

A fine effort from Tony Bellew. He gave Stevenson a tougher fight than two ex-world champions in Dawson and Cloud. Boxing fans worldwide will want to see Bellew box again.

I seem to be in the minority but I think Stevenson will be too fast and hit too hard for Kovalev.

[keithmoonhangover]

Classy comments from Bomber. He fought the best in the division and came up short.

Is Stevenson better than Kovalev? I don`t think so. Is he better than Hopkins?

He's achieved more than Kovalev. he's top in my opinion.

[hurlock]

Against who ?[/quote]

A cruiserweight ?[/quote]

You are a complete fvcking retard you are[/quote]

Bit sick of your abuse you absolute mug. Did you used to get smashed about as a kid or somthing??
Your vile little temper is grating on me you fc kin pr.ck

[broomy7s]

I thought Bellew did ok, he proved worthy as title challenger. Stevenson is a beast, not just a puncher. I really think Tony can come again, maybe take 12 months fighting at non title level slowly building muscle and size as a cruiserweight.