By Tim Parsons-
Tony Bellew says Tyson Fury of wary of facing him in the ring. talkSPORT: ‘All he has over me is size’.
Fury faces 39-year-old Albanian Sefer Seferi, whose last two bouts have been at cruiserweight.
Bellew has seized the opportunity to highlight a contradiction in Fury’s choice of opponent after Fury recently snubbed Bellew offer to fight him on the basis of the former cruiserweight world champion being too light.
Bellew called out Fury after defying all odds in beating David Haye for the second time in May. Last week, Fury ridiculed Bellew’s challenger when he spoke to FightHype. He said: “I don’t want to fight Tony Bellew. He’s a family man and I want him to stay healthy and stay boxing and earn a few quid.
“If he steps in ring with him, he’s only a small man and I could damage him – hurt him properly.
“You aren’t messing with a David Haye who’s 20 years out of date. You’re messing with someone who is 6ft 9in, 19 stone and in the prime of my life and who can knock a wall down, one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight boxing but they don’t know it”.
Bellew disputes Fury’s challenge and believes he is running scared. Otherwise, why not take on Bellew as part of his warm-up come back. Bellew, whose confidence has grown since silencing David Haye twice, after the Londoner’s expression of confidence on both occasions, said:
”I am part of the biggest global thing in the world in Matchroom Boxing – if Tyson wants to make serious money, he knows where to come.
“He is awkward to fight for the big guys, but I’m trickier than him, I’m quicker than him and stronger than him.
“What he has over me is size, but that’s all.
“I actually punch harder than Tyson Fury.”
Fury’s opponent for June 9 is believed to have been selected by Frank Warren, his promoter, to help the gypsy fighter shake off the rust. The pressure to fight Bellew may begin to grow after Fury’s first or second fight if anything for the hype. Fury will be expected to beat Bellew without too much difficulty, but Bellew could surprise everyone like he did against David Haye.
Bellew’s success against David Haye is not easy to measure because of Haye’s questionable condition, and rumours that he was still injury prone and fought the rematch out of pride. No matter the reason for the defeat, Bellew is now a bigger name than it was once, and Fury will look scares if he avoids this blown out cruiserweight throughout all his warm-up fights.