BoxRec

Fighters are courageous by definition and Bellew is no exception. I like the fact that he's aware of his limitations and he is not shy of admitting them. He has the honesty and good sense to know and to publicly concede, he'd be no match for Joshua. Would it be courageous to take him on, get battered senseless in under four rounds for a handsome payday?

I don't think he'd be likely to beat Usyk but he'd stand as much chance as most. He wouldn't shirk the challenge if the money was right, but I doubt it would be. Bellew wants a high profile big money opponent to substantially add to his retirement fund, and for all his quality I don't think Usyk fits the bill, and Gassiev certainly doesn't.

David Haye take 3, might have been a good shout, Tony must be regretting having seen him off so emphatically.

Bellew for sure is brave, he's shown that already.

The question of bravery shouldn't even be part of the equation.

Bellew is a fighter. He fights. That's what he does.

If offered the opportunity, he would fight Joshua in a heartbeat, no matter what he publicaly says his chances of winning are.

He probably isn't crazy about dropping back to cruiserweight, but if the purse was worth it, Bellew would do that too.

Bravery is irrelevant. If you're a coward, you don't become a fighter.

.

Enlightened-One wrote: ↑11 May 2018, 14:11 Tony Bellew is unlikely to be willing to face the winner of the WBSS cruiserweight tournament unless he’s paid handsomely to do so and I can’t see that happening, since neither Oleksandr Usyk nor Murat Gassiev are big revenue generators.

In terms of Tony Bellew’s “bravery”, isn’t it fúckíng appallingly stupid to question his courage? Seriously!?!?

Surely not. It’s about TB’s business plan. Fight with Usyk or Gassiev would have rather poor risk vs reward ratio for Bellew. I think from business perspective Bellew wants to fight someone who he can beat comfortably and who’s got a bit of a name to draw a casual fan (and ££££). Not a relatively unknown (to general population anyway) one of world’s top guys in their prime.

Boxing is half-dead sport, definitely. The main culprits for me are : -the four horsemen (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO)
-the corrupted judges and refs
-the greedy promoters
-the picking of soft opponents

And, we will continue to argue on the boxing forums, the majority of top class boxers will pick soft opponents, and boxing likely will not exist in 50 years. Sad............