Like many boxing fans, Tony Bellew is looking forward to Dave Allen‘s heavyweight showdown with Arslanbek Makhmudov this weekend.
‘The White Rhino’ is one of the most popular fighters in the country. He is an admiable, down-to-earth and an honest character who has had a storied career, including several breaks away from the sport. In his early days, he was thrown in deep and took losses to the likes of Tony Yoka, Luis Ortiz and Dillian Whyte.
More recently, he has trained more seriously and got knockout wins over Nick Webb, Lucas Browne and last time out Johnny Fisher, which has set him up with the giant Russian Makhmudov in Sheffield this weekend.
It’s a fight that has gripped the interest of the British boxing public, and speaking to Pundit Arena, former cruiserweight world champion Bellew laid out how he sees the fight potentially playing out.
“Makhmudov is dangerous. We’ve seen he can be out-fought and outwitted and hurt himself by Agit Kabayel. But he’s a big, dangerous lump. This is going to go one of two ways.
“Either he comes in and give’s Dave some licks and knocks him out pretty quick, or, my version of events, what I think will happen is Dave Allen will get rid of this fella in about seven or eight rounds but he’ll take a few, and he’ll have to absorb some, and then I think Dave might outman him down the stretch and stop him late.”
Makhmudov has lost twice, once to Agit Kabayel and once to Guido Vianello, both times by TKO.
