This Boxing Game: Tony Bellew

Showing posts with label Tony Bellew. Show all posts

Monday, 29 May 2017

Kell Brook's courage in taking a knee against Spence was exemplary

The criticism levelled at Kell Brook in the wake of his 11th round KO defeat to Errol Spence is a stark reminder that boxing is and always has been a sport of extremes, wherein the very best and the very worst of human nature is exposed. Courage, respect, resilience, and skill is offset in boxing by cowardice, venality, brutality, and cruelty. Typically the former are expressed inside the ring on the part of the fighters, while the latter is the domain of the sport's fans and spectators, many of whom take the opportunity, when watching a fight, to give expression to their own lack of achievements, happiness, or self respect by taking delight in misfortune to befall a given fighter whose only crime is to have dedicated his life to the hardest sport there is and achieve a level of fame, success, and admiration conversant with that dedication.

Every fighter who climbs through the ropes immediately puts his health and life at risk. This is a truth well known, yet regardless far too many dismiss it, preferring to view those who do risk their lives in the name of sport as mere commodities, their humanity diminished, more machines than men.

Kell Brook's courage in taking a knee in the 11th round against Spence, rather than continue and risk permanent damage up to and including blindness, was exemplary, marking him out as a true champion and role model. The idea, the ludicrous idea, that he should have fought on to bring boxing into disrepute by turning it into a savage spectacle, this is an indictment of the intelligence and base instincts of his critics.

Brook gave his all against Spence, outboxing and outfighting the American for much of the fight, but in the end he is a human being, of bone and blood, and when one of those bones break and he can't see are we seriously suggesting he should have risked permanent damage just to burnish his credentials as a 'warrior'?

Fellow professional and world cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew was particularly scathing of Brook for taking the knee when he did, accusing him of quitting in his role as pundit for Sky. This is particularly lamentable given Bellew's status and clout in the sport after defeating an injured David Haye in dramatic fashion in his own previous fight. It is worth recalling that in the build-up to that contest most people - myself included - agreed wholeheartedly with Bellew in his criticisms of David Haye's ugly rhetoric, pledging to put him in hospital and leave him unconscious.

You can't have it both ways Tony - you can't slam Brook for refusing to allow himself to sustain permanent damange while lambasting Haye for promising to dole out permanent damage to you. Furthermore you make a point of continually reminding people that your priority when it comes to boxing is making sure that you get home safely to your wife and kids, and you are absolutely right to do so. But surely you also recognise and support the right of Kell Brook to make it home safely to his family after he fights?

Perhaps the drama of the occasion took over and Tony Bellew's judgement was temporarily clouded by emotion. Hopefully in the coming days, as the smoke clears, he realises that he was wrong to attack Kell Brook, a fellow professional and a fighter who has been a credit to the sport over many years. Perhaps, with this in mind, Tony Bellew will be big enough take back his words and apologise.

Boxing is such a unique and compelling sport in that it walks a line between barbarism and nobility. Ensuring that it remains on the right side of this line is surely the most important priority of everyone who loves the sport. Kell Brook, in taking the knee when he did, ensured that he stayed on the right side of this line. As such, not only did he save himself, he saved the sport.

As none other than Aristotle reminds us, "The brave man is called rash by the coward, and cowardly by the rash man."

Former IBF welterweight champion, Kell Brook, is a brave man.

Sunday, 5 March 2017

David Haye and Tony Bellew served up more drama than Shakespeare

In terms of drama, excitment, and raw emotion, Haye vs Bellew was a classic that will be talked about and debated for years to come. The inordinate bad blood that flowed in the lead up made the stakes involved higher than most world title fights have in recent times. That it also brought the sport into disrepute is a feeling that will not be shared by Eddie Hearn or Sky Sports given the number of PPV buys it undoubtedly generated precisely because of the bad blood and vicious pre-fight rhetoric, most of it from David Haye.

But placing that to one side for a moment, Haye proved beyond doubt that scratch the surface of the playboy image and lifestyle he is known for, you have man with the blood of a warrior flowing through his veins. The way he refused to quit despite carrying a ruptured Achilles for five rounds was unbelievable, with the sight of him hobbling around the ring conjuring the image from ancient history of a Spartan or Roman gladiator for whom death is preferable to surrender.

That said, along with the vast majority of fans, pundits, and former fighters, Haye came into the fight fully expecting to blast his opponent out of there within one or two rounds. It was evident in a performance that calls into question his future in the game. He appeared slower, more ponderous, and one dimensional than the Haye of old, loading up on wild single hooks and right hands, as if expecting Bellew to stand still and take them. It was only when he settled down after the third and started using the jab more prodigiously, particularly to the body, that he began to take the fight and his opponent seriously. He was in control of the fight up until he sustained his Achilles injury in the sxith round, pressing the action and throwing more than Bellew, whose gameplan of avoiding unnecesssary shots and taking the fight into the later rounds was working a treat. He and his coach Dave Coldwell had made no secret of their gameplan, one they'd devised in the belief that Haye would start drowning after four or five rounds. Bellew moved well for those first six rounds, consistently spinning off and away whenever Haye closed the distance. That said, the former cruiserweight and heavyeweight world champion's habit of following Bellew around the ring instead of cutting him off provided the Liverpudlian and current WBC cruiserweight champion with the opportunity to do so.

Both men started seriously gassing in the second half of the fight. Bellew came close to punching himself out trying to finish Haye in the sixth and seventh rounds, realising he was seriously injured. By this point it was only a matter of time before Bellew's hand was raised. The sixth was the most explosive of the fight, during which both fighters hit the canvas, Bellew once and Haye twice, though none were ruled knockdowns by the referee. It was now, with Haye injured, that sustained the momentum shifted decisively in Bellew's favour. From now to the end Haye was reduced to throwing the odd desperate big shot, fuelled by forlorn hope rather than serious intent. The rumours that he may have been carrying an Achilles injury in the final few days prior to the fight looked to have been true. Indeed, watching his ring entrance a second time a slight limp looks apparent as he makes his way to the ring to the trademark seventies disco classic 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now' by McFadden & Whitehead. As he did, Bellew in the ring appeared the most relaxed man in the building, taking the opportunity to have a dance as he waited for his opponent to arrive. This alone should be a YouTube classic.

Shane McGuigan was right to throw in the towel in the eleventh round after Haye fell through the ropes at the end of a Bellew combination. By now he was running on sheer will, courage, and pride, adding a tragic element to the denouement. Only the hardest of hearts could argue that Haye's warrior courage does not mitigate his distasteful rhetoric during the build-up. But as mentioned, the harsh reality is that however distasteful and vicious Haye's verbiage it sold the fight as no other fight has been sold in Britain in recent years, perhaps with the exception of the Froch vs Groves rematch. In this regard we're all culpable when it comes to a sport that all too often plumbs depths of indecency that no sport should ever be permitted to. Having made that point, however, boxing is the only sport that reaquaints us with animal instincts that have been blunted after centuries of civilisation and culture. Those instincts see the most base and virtuous aspects of the human condition laid bare, which is what makes boxing so compelling.

When it comes to David Haye the burning question has now been answered. Though he was in control of the fight before his Achilles went, he is not the fighter of old. His speed, timing, and agility even prior to the injury were noticeably diminished compared to the peak model of old. His body is now breaking down in the face of the rigours of too many training camps. Haye was never a natural heavyweight, which means that the wear and tear sustained after consistently sparring and fighting proper heavyweights has taken a grievous toll. Though along with Tony Bellew, Haye talked up the prospect of a rematch during the post fight interviews, there will likely not be a huge appetite to see one.

As for Tony Bellew, the big Liverpudlian and Evertonian has made a career out of proving the army of naysayers where he's concerned wrong. Though in defeating Haye he beat a man who was reduced to hobbling around on one leg for five rounds, Haye was gracious enough in defeat not to enter the injury as an excuse for the loss, and neither should anybody else. Haye was expected to roll over Tony Bellew in one or two rounds. That he failed to was in itself a victory for a fighter was was giving away a stone in bodyweight.

Bellew's gesture immediately after the fight was stopped in shoving promoter Eddie Hearn away in order to minister to Haye
should see him elevate to cult status even in the eyes of his detractors.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

David Haye talks and looks like a man ready for war

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At the recent Haye-Bellew press conference in Liverpool, which was open to the public, something remarkable took place. We saw Haye emerge from it as the villain while Tony Bellew found himself slotted in to the role of the good guy - the wholesome family man who unlike Haye is in boxing for all the right reasons. Now just think about that for a second. Tony 'Bomber' Bellew, a fighter who's spent his entire professional career unleashing tirades of invective at his opponents in the lead up to fights, whose every second or third word is usually an expletive, a man infamous for his bullying and intimidatory antics, suddenly this guy is being depicted as a poster boy for family values and proper etiquette.

David Haye's tirade at the presser came after he'd endured dog's abuse from a crowd that was there baying for his blood. In parenthesis, was there really any need for this particular press conference less than a week before the fight? And, if so, what were Sky and Matchroom thinking opening it up to the public? Surely this was just asking for trouble and the kind of controversy that the sport doesn't need?

Haye's reference to the crowd as "retards" earned him the kind of opprobrium usually reserved for rapists or serial killers. Yet not a peep have we heard in protest at Tony Bellew's repeated use of misogynistic language - i.e. "The Bitch from Bermondsey." In fact during Haye's speech at the podium in Liverpool, Bellew interrupted him with "You got that right bitch!"

Surely if Haye is to be hung out to dry for the crime of offensive language and bad taste, so should his opponent.

But, listen, this is boxing. These guys are ready mentally and physically and emotionally to go to war. Add to the mix the genuine hatred that they have for each other, and what do people expect?

Aside from that, the public workout both fighters had with just three days to go dispelled any rumours that Haye's been having problems with his previously injured right shoulder, or that he was suffering from an achilles problem and is on the verge of pulling out. Yet again the Haye camp has proved adept at mind games. Whether it's the footage of Haye supposedly training on a yacht in South Beach, Miami, or sitting in a Jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glasses, or his highly publicised visit to his doctor in Munich, they' ve succeeded in giving the impression that Haye's preparations have been less than rigorous and injury-free.

The exact opposite looks to be the case. The physical nick Haye is in, revealed during his brief public workout when he removed his T-shirt, tells its own story. He isn't carrying an ounce of extraenous weight, either fat or muscle tissue, and the snap that he's renowned for clearly hasn't deserted him either. On the contrary, Haye's never looked sharper or more focused than he does for this contest, putting his shots together with speed and fluidity. His trainer Shane McGuigan, a guy who looks like he belongs in a Harry Potter movie poster instead of a boxing gym, revealed that Haye has sparred 60 rounds with Bryant Jennings for the fight, which means he's had excellent work and ideal preparation.

Tony Bellew, meanwhile, appears a solid unit going in. He claims he's prepared for a "dogfight", while asserting that Haye no longer has the minerals for what he intends to bring. If he and Dave Coldwell, his trainer and friend, are to be believed the gameplan is to take the fight into the later rounds and drown Haye in the kind of gut-testing slugfest he isn't built or ready for.

The smart money says Bellew will be asleep long before that happens. Judging by what we've seen this week, it is hard to disagree.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Haye v Bellew - the countdown

With just one week to go before David Haye and Tony Bellew step into the ring at the O2 Arena in London to settle accounts in one of the most bitter grudge matches British boxing has seen in some time, the cultural and lifestyle differences between both fighters could not be more stark.

While Haye has made the luxurious environs of South Beach, Miami a feature of his training camp, tirelessly posting pics and videos of himself cavorting around a luxury yacht, where he claims he's spent much of his time training, or on the beach meditating and relaxing between sessions, or hanging out with various celebrity friends, Bellew has emphasised his working class down to earth roots, his love of family and Everton FC, while training in the cold and rain of Sheffield in the accustomed manner, suffering for his craft as he batters and bludgeons his body and mind into shape for, this, the biggest test of his career.

It has been a study in contrast that has added even more anticipation to a fight that really didn't need any, given the river of bad blood that exists between both men.

Of the two, Haye's preparations have left fans and pundits guessing. From the pictures and videos posted on social media, the impression given is that of someone who's spent the winter enjoying an extended trip to a luxury health farm, living it up at the beach and on a luxury yacht, where we've seen him sitting in a jacuzzi sipping protein shakes from a cocktail glass. The images offend the conventional and purist belief in professional boxing as an exercise in self denial, wherein success in the ring is measured by the amount of pain and hardship and suffering a fighter is able to endure. Fighters preparing for the ring, especially a fight of his magnitude, are meant to avoid luxury and comfort as a vampire avoids daylight, knowing it can only weaken the resolve, dedication, and single minded ferocity that are non-negotiable requirements of their physical and psychological makeup.

But has Haye, with the beachboy image that he's cultivated leading up to this fight, only succeeded in pulling the wool over people's eyes, engaging in the art of mind games with all his posing and cavorting in Miami? The answer is undeniably yes. Make no mistake, the 36 year old 'Bitch from Bermondsey' will have trained like the proverbial beast for this fight, using the warm weather to his advantage for the purposes of recovery and keeping his core body temperature at the optimum level when it comes to conditioning. Pics of his chiselled physique tell their own story, though Haye knows as much as anyone that what goes on inside the squared circle has nothing to do with rippling muscles and everything to do with skill, speed, power, movement, and conditioning.

On paper, in every one of those categories, Haye is superior. He's faster, hits harder, moves better, and has more variety to his game. Not that Tony Bellew is a mug. Far from it. The cruiserweight world champion is a fighter's fighter, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and has made a habit of proving the naysayers and doubters wrong. He is as tough and as durable as they come, willing to go to places most are not in order to win. But his style could not be better made for David Haye. He stands tall, has a habit of letting his hands drop, and when the leather starts flying he often lapses into the habit of coming forward in front of his jab rather than behind it.

That said, Bellew is right in claiming that he will be Haye's toughest test in many years, something which he and Dave Coldwell, his friend and trainer, believe will be a crucial factor. Both do not believe that Haye has enough in the tank to go beyond four rounds and maintain the pace and intensity that Bellew intends to bring. They are also right in citing the fact that by the time Haye dispatched Derek Chisora in the 5th round of their clash back in 2012, he was tiring. But Haye will be coming in considerably lighter for this fight, and is clearly as motivated as he's ever been. His oft repeated assertion that Bellew will be carried out on a stretcher, as distasteful and unbecoming such rhetoric may be, is no empty boast. Haye is coming into this fight with the intention of doing damage.

What people seem to underestimate when it comes to David Haye, perhaps understandably given his love of the limelight and celebrity lifestyle, is how tough he is. Aggressive opponents such as Chisora and Bellew seem to bring out a mean side in him that contradicts the cultivated and urbane image he's gone out of his way to present over the years. In fact he appears to revel in these types of grudge matches, and despite the trash talk that comes his way when they come up, he's never phased or intimidated.

Tony Bellew's key to winning is his ability to take Haye's best shots and to keep coming forward, setting a relentless pace that his opponent isn't comfortable with. Keeping him on the back foot and finding the opportunity to fire that ferocious left hook he carries will be on his mind from the opening bell. Haye, meanwhile, will be looking to employ lateral movement to nullify Bellew's pressure, looking for angles and gaps, of which he and McGuigan are confident will be plentiful.

Haye's power, how Bellew copes with it, will be the most important single factor in determining the outcome to proceedings on March 4. If Haye starts firing and Bellew doesn't go anywhere, it could be the longest night of David Haye's career in many a year. With Bellew also carrying some serious juice in his hands, this has all the hallmarks of a ferocious contest.

When it ends let's hope the only stretcher involved is the one needed to carry home the pile of money each fighter is set to walk away with - money that even if this contest comes close to living up to the hype will be more than deserved.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Haye v Bellew - Beauty and the Beast

By the time David Haye meets Tony Bellew in the centre of the ring on March 4, 2017, at the O'2 Arena in London, we will already have witnessed a build-up that many would have paid to watch regardless of the fight itself, given the personalities of both fighters and the needle taht exists between them.

The surprising thing about this contest is that it arrived out of nowhere. Bellew had just climbed off the canvas at Goodison Park after being dropped in the first round of his vacant WBC cruiserweight title fight to destroy Ghana's Ilunga Makabu in the third, nailing him with his trademark left hook in front of 30,000 raucous fans in the summer. Though Bellew has never been a fighter anyone would ever confuse with Bambi, the rant he delivered upon taking the mic after the fight was so raw it could only have come from the soles of his feet, during which he called out the 'Bitch from Bermondsey', excoriating him for "conning the public" over the course of two comeback fights against terrible opposition.

Bellew, who recently tasted the limelight as Ricky 'Pretty Boy' Conlan in Sly Stallone's well received Rocky spinoff movie, Creed, is not easy to like. He comes over as boorish with a bully-boy mentality at times. Moreover, his smack-talk about Haye's "sponge haircut" carries with it a racial connotation that he needs to drop, else the build up may well spill over into the kind of nastiness that boxing doesn't need. That said, you can't argue with his achievements in the ring, testament to his dedication and the fine work that he's put in with his trainer Dave Coldwell. His most recent demolition of B J Flores proved that his victory over Makabu was no fluke. Though possessing a body that wouldn't look out of place at McDonalds, Bellew carries real power in his hands, in particular a left hook that is a true thing of beauty.

As for David Haye, what can you say about a guy who when at his best is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet? Though justifiably attracting criticism in recent times for being overtly mercenary in his approach to the game, taking fights against less than credible opposition and taking the boxing public for a ride in the process, he is no hype-job and can really fight. Since teaming up with Shane McGuigan, joing a stable that includes his old Adam Booth stablemate George Groves, along with Carl Frampton and up and coming star Josh Taylor, Haye appears to have rediscovered his taste for the game. A big factor in that is of course his recovery from the bad shoulder injury he sustained during camp while getting ready to face Tyson Fury back in 2013. It seemed at the time he was looking at retirement, yet a year later he's back getting ready to face Tony Bellew in a highly anticipated encounter.

The smart money has to be on Haye, given his experience of operating at heavyweight plus the fact he is the technically superior fighter. Yet, saying that, the Liverpudlian and Evertonian has made a career out of proving people wrong. Clearly he will be relishing the opportunity to do so again.

For the purists out there this fight is being decried as a mismatch, pitting a crusierweight against a heavyweight. But Haye is no natural heavyweight and will no doubt come in lighter than he normally does. He could do with boiling off some of that muscle mass he carries anyway, and in terms of bone-structure, height and overall dimension he and Bellew are not that far apart.

For Bellew this fight is a win-win, as no matter what happens he remains the WBC cruiserweight champion. He and Coldwell are banking on the fact that Haye has not been seriously tested since his fight against Dereck Chisora in 2012. They maintain that they see flaws they can exploit, which in conjunction with the momentum Bellew is currently riding on the back of two impressive performances gives them every reason to feel confident.

Regardless, my money is on David Haye. He's faster, more explosive, with experience of having been in with seasoned heavyweights. Though getting on in years, he hasn't taken huge punishment in the ring, and the lack of decent opposition he's faced since returning to the ring, this will not, I contend, be as much of a factor as some maintain. He is undoubtedly up for this battle, which will tell in the quality of the sparring and sparring partners he will use to get himself ready.

I don't see one this going past four rounds.