Bellew is underrated

[handsofstone]

The Makubu win is looking better all the time, its hard to tell, i wish he'd tried to unify at Cruiser instead of vacating and chasing the Haye paydays up at Heavyweight, remember Briedis stopped Vallily on the Bellew/Flores card, he was Bellew's mandatory then after Bellew swept Flores aside later he started his wee spat with Haye, i would've like to have seen Bellew in with the likes of Briedis, Dorticos and Gassiev

[CaptainSpacerod]

So why did he campaign for so long at lhw if making weight ruined him especially when he was a hw as an amateur

[mickey1975]

So why did he campaign for so long at lhw if making weight ruined him especially when he was a hw as an amateur

Because Cruiser wasn’t attracted, Clev was and apparently he had kids to feed.

[margaret thatcher]

ya he's been underrated, actually had a lot of tools as a fighter. think he made a great career move by ducking brideis for flores and haye though, don't think he wouldve won vs that uppermost tier of cruisers

[tonyevs]

So why did he campaign for so long at lhw if making weight ruined him especially when he was a hw as an amateur

Because Cruiser wasn’t attracted, Clev was and apparently he had kids to feed.

There is a big difference to fighting 3 rnds amateur and then fighting professionally.
The top guys you have to get past are full time professionals; not kids boxing around their primary priority such as a job or college.
As others have said, Bellew was carrying lots of excess weight at amateur .. I imagine as he trained like a proper professional his weight dropped. Some guys put on muscle and weight easy just by training (Anthony Joshua) - for others building muscle is much harder, so fat burns off a lot easier; Bellew seems to be this type.

Bellew did superbly with what he had - he had a great career to achieve what he did despite that.
He is definitely over rated by himself .. but the majority of people here seem to rate him about right.
Nobody can deny that Bellew had huge luck in his career; after the Clev loss he could have followed Danny Mcintosh, and people would have never heard about him, or his nan, believe you me

[GreenLightning]

But there were people who said he was weight drained at LHW and he ripped them a new one saying they were keyboard warriors who didn't know what they were talking about, then he moved up to cruiserweight claiming he was weight drained.

Someone mentioned the amateur fight against Jon Lewis Dickinson and I remember he was getting his head boxed off before landing a big shot, his boxing was absolutely awful so he actually did become a better than you'd think watching him as an am, because he really wasn't technically skilled at all.

[Counter-puncher]

. Some guys put on muscle and weight easy just by training (Anthony Joshua)

[rio]

Every title he ever won was a vacant one. He fought 3 defending world champions and was beaten with ease each time.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Every title he ever won was a vacant one. He fought 3 defending world champions and was beaten with ease each time.

Yeh. Remember saying this after the Usyk fight. Literally every belt was it?

[TheGman]

He done great in his career,winning every title at pro pevel british,commonwealth ,european and world titles.
Yes he should of went to cruiser but would he of won the titles he did if he went straight to cruiserweight? I dont think so. He done everything boxers dream of when turning pro and made a few million in the process,good luck to the lad just stop screaming instructions to boxers in empty arena's cause his voice goes through me.

[mickey1975]

As much as I was never a fan of Boomer, I wanted him to twat Ant Middleton on Celebrity SAS.

[skanksta]

Good topic - lots saying he was never a great. A lot reminding us what a good career he had overall.

I think this thread ends up with him being... exactly rightly rated !

[mickey1975]

Good topic - lots saying he was never a great. A lot reminding us what a good career he had overall.

I think this thread ends up with him being... exactly rightly rated !

Believe you me, Tony would have reminded us anyway, he really would.

[Oiky]

Bellew really got the most out of himself , went further than he should really. All said and done though I do like bellew

[gilgamesh]

I liked Bellew until he got on the WBC board and stood by the Bridgerweight idea. Now I'm upset that he wasn't knocked into a coma in his last bout.

[coneye]

Has a boxer he done very very well for his ability, seemed to gotton the right fights at the right time and looked a lot better for it than h e actually was , he is neither under or over rated he is what he is , and as a boxer i,m pleased he made has much as he did , good on him However has a person , he,s still a pillock

[Steveh583]

I liked Bellew until he got on the WBC board and stood by the Bridgerweight idea. Now I'm upset that he wasn't knocked into a coma in his last bout.

too far. you don't really mean that either if you're honest.

[margaret thatcher]

ya that was a bridger too far mate

[gilgamesh]

I liked Bellew until he got on the WBC board and stood by the Bridgerweight idea. Now I'm upset that he wasn't knocked into a coma in his last bout.

too far. you don't really mean that either if you're honest.

I absolutely mean it. I hate Bridgerweight and everybody that has anything to do with it. I sincerely wish them all dead. Anybody that had anything to do with it.

[margaret thatcher]

ricky burns is underrated too i feel

[margaret thatcher]

actually i think we underrate our own guys more than we overrate them. maybe it's a counter reaction to our top fighters getting hyped and stuffed down our throats a bit much

[lefthook82]

His campaign at light heavyweight, where he was drained and underwhelming, has tarnished a career that could have been so much more had he focused on cruiserweight where he was quality.

He avoided Breides with the help of the WBC who ignored their own rules and didn't enforce the mandatory fight which is what happens when you win a vacant title.

What a brilliant move though. He would have gotten smashed to bits by Breides and missed out on those last 3 huge paydays

[Jimmy2020]

His campaign at light heavyweight, where he was drained and underwhelming, has tarnished a career that could have been so much more had he focused on cruiserweight where he was quality.

He avoided Breides with the help of the WBC who ignored their own rules and didn't enforce the mandatory fight which is what happens when you win a vacant title.

What a brilliant move though. He would have gotten smashed to bits by Breides and missed out on those last 3 huge paydays

It was a good move for him but not for us.

[Monte Fisto]

actually i think we underrate our own guys more than we overrate them. maybe it's a counter reaction to our top fighters getting hyped and stuffed down our throats a bit much

I agree with this, also the inability for a lot of boxing fans to appreciate losses that were ultimately learning fights. People point at a good fighters loss to identify why that boxer is no good. In turn we get overhyped fighters beating dudes levels below them for years in order to build fan bases. Many of my mates aren’t really boxing fans but more fans of certain boxing superstars. Outside of those superstars the rest are rubbish

[Ezzard]

I do believe Tony is underrated. And I don't think he overrates himself either. I think he's a clever bloke who knows how to sell a fight. If that means having to mouth off then he'll do it. I think fair play to him. I hope he's invested wisely.

The Haye thing annoys me. He obviously was very smart in getting that fight, firstly for the money. Then while everyone gave him no chance he kept saying... "David Haye is a broken man." And when he turned out to be right people just said but that wasn't peak Haye...he was shot...etc... Bellew rolled the dice and called it right both times.