Tony Bellew Exclusive Interview: Bivol v Beterbiev 2 Prediction & Why Itauma Deserves World Title Shot
In an exclusive interview with Casino Utan Spelpaus , Tony Bellew spoke about all of the upcoming boxing in 2025 including a prediction for the highly anticipated rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
Thoughts On Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury
Q: Oleksandr Usyk fought himself and since then he has gone on to achieve great things. He’s just beaten Tyson Fury again, what did you make of the fight?
Tony Bellew: ” I thought it was a really good fight. I thought he was in complete control from the start to the finish. It didn’t seem to be going against him in any way, shape or form. When I was watching the event live on the TV, I thought, ’Oh, this is a bit close.’ And when I watched it, I’ve watched it back three times now. And he’s just decisive in every movement that he does. There’s a reason for everything he does. And once again, he out hustled him, he pressed him, he out worked him, he out punched him in almost every round. He’s out punched him. And you’ve got to remember a lot of what Tyson Fury threw on the night hit gloves. Very, very little got through. I liked some of the body shots he threw. I thought it was smart and a clever ploy to attack the body. But if you’re gonna attack the body, you have to be putting pressure on ’cause you have to make them body shots count. And he didn’t apply the pressure after landing some really good body shots. And now he feels aggrieved and that he thinks that he didn’t lose, but you know, I think even his promoter now has gone back on that. He’s reviewed the fight and doesn’t think it was a robbery anymore. I think it’s common sense, he’s still going to side with Tyson Fury, that’s his man. But I’m not biased towards any of them. I think both of them are great fighters. I think both of them are great lads. I’m a neutral and you just got to score it as you see it. On the night, I think I scored Usyk by two. But in hindsight, I think it’s more like three or four.
” And that said, that’s no disrespect to Tyson Fury. He’s always going to struggle with a fighter like Oleksandr Usyk. The biggest thing about it is, Oleksandr Usyk didn’t use his greatest assets and strength to beat him. He used his probably his greatest weakness. His greatest weakness is his going forward and pressing fights. His strength is going on the back foot the likes of Morik Gassiev. I tried to bring him to me and I was successful for seven rounds, the fight, I had 12 rounds but I got stopped in the eighth someone like Tyson Fury to be pressured and dictated to the way he was by Oleksandr over 24 rounds is unbelievable. So I think both are amazing fighters. Tyson Fury will be back 100 percent if he wants to, that is. I think he’s the second best heavyweight in the world. ”
Prediction For Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol Rematch
Q: We’ve obviously got the Bivol vs Beterbiev fight coming up. Do you see this one going the same way or would you see it turning out differently?
Tony Bellew: ”I do, but I think Bivol wins on points. Once again, I thought the first could have went either way. I thought Bivol was the better boxer on the night, but I thought Beterbiev pressed the whole night and he outpunched him. He just outworked him. And I think them championship rounds in that fight were big. I did like Bivol’s boxing, so Bivol has showed us he has the ability. I think he’ll learn his lesson from the first fight. And let’s be honest. If anyone needed it to be a short amount of time between the turn around time, it was Beterbiev because he’s the guy who’s getting older. He’s 40. He’s an amazing athlete. I’ve got all the respect in the world for him. I think he’s an amazing, amazing athlete. And he’s a seriously underrated fighter. Very, very good. Exceptional amateur boxer. Brilliant. He really is. But father time waits for no one. And I just think Bivol with the better footwork if he uses it to his full capability this time. I just think he can maneuver himself around Beterbiev that would be great, but never write someone off of that kind of power. He’s probably pound for pound the biggest puncher, the light heavyweight division’s ever seen. I would go as far as saying that I’ve never seen a puncher this big. I mean, I think of Archie Moore when I think about someone like him, but ultimately. I think Beterbiev is the biggest puncher in that division we’ve ever seen.”
And if Bivol wins this, then we have to have the trilogy as well, don’t we?
”Definitely. It’s all about how much more can Beterbiev give? And then if Beterbiev is successful, I think he could take on Jai Opetaia. I think that is just massive. Could be huge, couldn’t it? Mouthwatering. Then you might see that size really matters. But then on the other hand. Jai isn’t the biggest cruiserweight, like I’ve stood with Jai. Jai is just not the biggest. Don’t get me wrong, he’s the best, he’s just not the biggest. You don’t always have to be the biggest to be the best, as we’ve seen with Oleksandr Usyk.”
On The Fight He’d Most Like To See In 2025
Q: If there was any fight you could make in 2025, what would it be?
Tony Bellew: ”If I could make any fight in boxing right now, it would be Tank (Gervonta Davis) and (Naoya) Inoue. I mean, Bam and Inoue, I’d love to see. Another exceptional fight. There’s so many good fights that are available to the world, pound for pound, people fluctuating between weights, ultimately, I’m not going to lie, I don’t like fighters going too far above the natural weights. It doesn’t look good for me. Then you’re only going to lose because of size. And no fighter should ever lose purely because of size. You should lose because you weren’t good enough or your skill set wasn’t up there. So I don’t know how many more divisions Inoue can go, but I don’t wanna see him lose ’cause he just weren’t big enough.”
On Daniel Dubois Calling Out Oleksandr Usyk
Tony Bellew: ”I’ve seen people and their reactions to it. I think people’s reactions have taken it more personally than Oleksandr Usyk actually took it himself to be fair. He’s cool and calm. These guys are begging now for the payday because they know who the king is. And these guys need him. He doesn’t need them. Oleksandr Usyk can choose to fight whoever he wants. He is now the draw in the heavyweight division. He is the big name. And I take my hat off to Anthony Joshua. I take my hat off to Tyson Fury because they had the cojones to face him. As did Daniel Dubois. But let’s not get away from anything. Daniel Dubois fought him once. And we’ve seen how that fight went. Everyone goes on about a shot, let’s just be brutally honest, it hit the protector. Why is it called a protector? Because it protects you from certain shots. Did anyone look at the beltline of Tyson Fury before the fight? It was high, wasn’t it? I mean, I was going to ask what’s the neck on them shorts. But no one said anything. But Oleksandr Usyk fights Daniel Dubois, And his shorts are on his navel and you can clearly see his belly button at times in the fight. No one said, all of a sudden his shorts are high, so it’s whatever suits people’s narrative and agendas at the time. For people who are Fury fans, they want to say, Usyk’s done this or he’s robbed that. For people who are Dubois fans, just look at the cold, hard facts. He hits him on the protector, the protector’s called the protector for a reason. And then ultimately, look at how the fight ended up. I mean, he had enough.”
On Potential Clash Between Conor McGregor and Logan Paul
Q: Have you heard about Conor McGregor and Logan Paul’s 500 million dollar boxing match?
Tony Bellew: ”I’ve heard rumours about it, but is it true? You just never know with Conor. But any event that Conor’s part of, it’s astronomical, it’s huge. Listen, when you’re talking 250 million, you’re going to get Conor McGregor on the table. but he’s still contracted to two more fights. But he’s still contracted to two more UFC fights, so I don’t think you’ll see him in a boxing ring before you’ll see him back in a cage. Logan Paul is a really good athlete and you know what? He gave Mayweather hell. When he fought Mayweather, he wasn’t just swinging away, going nuts. He’s so physically strong and he’s game as anything. So, you’d have to take your hat off to him. He’s not a boxer. He’s primarily a wrestler and what he’s doing in the WWE. As we know, that’s a soap. It’s an opera. But at the same time, it doesn’t deter from how great of an athlete he is. He’ll get in there, let his hands go. Conor’s a fighter. He’s a combat man. He’s got that winning instinct, doesn’t he? He’s not a boxer, but, It’d be interesting and I mean it could be very embarrassing for him because if you do not turn up in shape against someone like Logan Paul, he’ll just throw slaps and punches at you all night, but he can do it for the whole night as Mayweather found out.”
On Future Of Moses Itauma
Q: Another one with a big future, Moses Itauma. We saw him with a rapid knockout on the undercard against Dempsey McKean. How far can he go?
Tony Bellew: ”I’ve mentioned a few times about him, I just think he’s exceptional. Exceptional fighter, Everything about him, his demeanor, his attitude, everything. He’s in his own time. He presses when he wants. He’s quality. I just think he’s very, very good. And then add to that, he’s a southpaw as well. And the only issue and worry is, but I say this and it’s already been proven wrong by Oleksandr Usyk’s size, but he’s a similar size to Oleksandr Usyk. Might be a little bit bigger even. He’s only a baby. He’s gonna fill out, but you need them a few more inches going that way. You just want that reach to be a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger. But, I think he’s a brilliant fighter. I really, really do. And I think within 18 months, he’ll be fighting for a World Heavyweight title. I mean, listen. He could possibly be looking towards it at the end of this year. If he has a good enough year. I think the thing with Moses Itauma is he’s willing to face anyone. There’s no fear. And I just think, given a little bit more experience, I’d favour him to beat the next crop of heavyweights, the likes of Daniel Dubois, I don’t even know outside of Daniel.”
Could he face someone like Martin Bakole?
Tony Bellew: ”I heard the talk about Bakole and I think he is a good fighter. And I think he’s done really well after the Michael Hunter fight, but he’s got to revisit that. I just don’t understand when you’re in a close fight with someone and you’ve lost or you’ve been in a draw, like I’ve been in three or four close fights and I’ve ran every single one of them back. I’ve had losses. Someone asked me the other day, ‘why didn’t you face Oleksandr Usyk again?’ Because I found out he’s just better than me. So he said, ‘why didn’t you face Adonis Stevenson again?’ Because anyone who knows me knows I was completely stone cold dead at 175, so I faced everyone else who I had a close fight with, I faced them again and beat them. And whether it was Nathan Cleverley, whether it was Ovill McKenzie, whether it was David Haye, whether it was Isaac Chilemba, all these people I faced in rematches, I won.
”And I just can’t understand why these fighters, if you’re in a close, hard fight, it’s like I take my hat off to Jack Catterall and Josh Taylor. They ran it back. So when you’re fighting in close fights. Or you’ve got a decision you don’t think you deserved. Like, I stopped Ovill McKenzie in the 7 or 8 round in the first fight. And I held me hands up and said, the referee made a mistake. He robbed me of my glory. I thought you robbed me of a nasty knockout there that was on the edge of laying him out cold. So I gave him a rematch. I didn’t have to, my promoter at the time, told me I didn’t have to. But I said, you know what, no, I’m gonna run it back and I’m gonna show you what I can do.”
On Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen Result
Q: What did you make of the Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen fight?
Tony Bellew: ”I thought Dave (Allen) did enough. But when I’ve heard the word robbery, he used, I mean, that was a bit strong, you know? I thought Dave did enough on the night. But you’ve got to look at the early rounds in the fight, and to be fair to Dave, he wasn’t throwing much back, and he was getting beat up in the first half of the fight. He just wanted to absorb what Johnny had and stay in the fight.”
Do you think he regrets not trying to finish the fight?
Tony Bellew: ”I just think Dave Allen’s at that point in his career where, you know, it’s easy come, easy go. Is he really interested? Is he really willing to put his life on the line and really go for it? I mean, what’s his ambition? It’s probably money. And I think if he turns Johnny Fisher over in that last round and gets rid of him. Everyone’s just going say they’re not fighting him. You let it back in, you let him back in, and you give yourself that extra rematch, and you give yourself a bigger platform. Now I’m not saying that he knew that or he didn’t, but subconsciously you never know what’s going through a fighter’s mind. And he absorbed an awful lot from Johnny Fisher. Johnny showed big balls. Huge. And you’ve got to give him an awful lot of credit. He showed big balls and it’s not nice in the heavyweight division when you’re tired and someone’s coming at you. It was a good fight.
”Like I said, I’m not going to use the word robbery. Lennox Lewis against Evander Holyfield 1, that’s a robbery. You know, you can’t start using the same phrase for fights like Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen’s as you do for Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield. Like I said, I thought Dave did enough, but he didn’t get it. And now we get to see it all over again. And if anything it was in his hands to do something about it.”
On Liam Cameron and Ben Whittaker Saga
Q: Apparently Liam Cameron claims that Ben Shalom has rejected a very good offer to stage their much anticipated rematch. Do you think Ben Whittaker is a bit scared of that rematch? Would he rather go elsewhere?
Tony Bellew: ”Once again, he’s got to revisit it. He knows it was a close fight. It was a very disputed call by the referee, given what he gave. The way it ended, the way he stopped it. It was, he’s got to revisit it. You can’t, I’m not going to sit here and say one wheel for one, one wheel for the other. Johnny Fisher is doing an honourable, noble thing. He’s revisiting the nightmare. Ben Whittaker needs to revisit the nightmare and go back in with Liam Cameron.”
On Dennis McCann Failing A Drugs Test
Q: Quick word about Dennis McCann sadly failing a drugs test prior to his fight with Peter McGrail. Dr. Usman, His name kind of rings bells around boxing, not necessarily in a good way. He was involved once again, I think he was involved when both Amir Khan and Connor Benn failed their tests. Do you think it’s becoming more than a coincidence now with this guy, Dr Usman?
Tony Bellew: ” I think it’s unfair to literally wipe this fella out. I don’t know anything about him, I’ve never met him. Listen, if you’re failing drugs that’s for performance enhancing and steroids. Just get them banned. Just throw them out of the sport. I know Dennis. Dennis is a good kid. I really like him. But, you can’t explain to me how them substances are in your body because they’re like backstreet substances. They’re like proper weightlifting stupid substances to take. They all know. When you sign up to the whereabouts, they know your every move, they know where you wake up every day, where you rest. I’ve been on that program. I was on it for years and years and years because I always choose the WBC. So I must have been on that program for seven, eight years. They knew where I was. Where I woke up every single day. They knew obviously where me head rested every single night for seven, eight years. I’ve done over a hundred tests amateur and pro.
”Dennis McCann vs Peter McGrail could have been a card topper anyway. Thankfully to His Excellency, he kept Peter McGrail on the bill, got him paid, got him fighting and he was in a good fight, by the way but thankfully top of the bill was Usyk and Fury. It’s madness. Someone’s got to do something about it. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Once the whole sport is running off one set of rules, that’s when we’ll see progress in boxing. Because when someone gets banned for a drug test, all the sanctioning bodies, all the governing bodies, everyone, bans them. It’s not like I can piss off to Texas and say I’m going to fight in Texas. If you fail a drug test and get banned for life, whatever it is, but globally we need the whole thing to come together. And I just think with the position, His Excellency’s in Turki Al-Sheikh, I think he’s the man who can do it because he has that much influence. He has that much influence over boxing. He’s probably the most powerful man in boxing right now.”
On Drama Between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia
Q: Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia, obviously Devin Haney’s got a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia now and it could set a precedent, couldn’t it? If the fighter who’s tested positive is deemed to be guilty of assault and battery, would you be in favour of that?
Tony Bellew: ” If he’s successful at that, you’re spot on, it would set a precedent and it’s nuts to think about it. If he wins that case, that’s insane. I don’t know where you go from there. Not every fighter has millions like Ryan Garcia. He could get sued and he wouldn’t care. I’ve been around a lot of fighters in my lifetime, and I just think, I can’t get my head around fighters who are gonna take something, put it in the body and go to the ring knowing that they’ve got an unfair advantage. I mean, I used to feel bad sometimes when I had Grant gloves on and I think how you, have you not picked these gloves? The Grant gloves I felt to give me an advantage gloves are made in certain ways the Mexico Reyes gloves years ago we made with horse hair. It doesn’t take rocket science. Think what’s nicer to be hit with foam or the horse hair? The horse hair is going to move around and do things.
” I used to have thoughts like that before a fight, I hope he’s not got Grants on, then we get to the rules meeting the night before, and sometimes I’d face a fighter and I’ve got Grants on, or I’ ve put Reyes on, he’s put Rivals on, now Rival gloves are the best protective glove in the game, nothing protects your hands better than Rivals, I think they’re the best glove for protecting your hands, and I had weak hands by the way, but I was willing to put my weak hands at risk by putting them in Grants, because Grants are a puncher’s glove, and I know it’s going to hurt you, and I know it’s 10 times more likely with Grants and I’m also more likely to cut you. That’s just me getting one over on you. Whereas putting something in your body means you just need banning for life one is banned for life, I promise you, you’ll see them just drop out of the sport. ”
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Tony Bellew – January 2025
