Tony Bellew has admitted there is one man who could lure him out of his retirement.
Bellew hung up his gloves back in 2018 after a storied career. The final fight was a shot at the cruiserweight undisputed title against generational great Oleksandr Usyk, who was competing at that weight for the last time.
Years before that Bellew had become a world champion by knocking out Ilunga Macabu at the home of his beloved Everton FC in 2016, and in between he defended the belt against BJ Flores with a 3rd round knockout win, and twice fought and beat David Haye at heavyweight.
Since then he has remained a popular pundit and writing recently for DAZN he commented on the noise that a number of YouTubers and crossover boxers are making and mentioned that he would happily come out of retirement to take on one of them.
“You have seen earlier this year that Jake Paul had a few things to say. If the right amount of money was put in front of me to shut one of these up then I’d be happy to oblige, but I don’t think you’ll see that.
“These people aren’t serious about fighting me and I don’t think there’s a promoter who would put up the money I want.”
As for a prediction, Bellew has previously stated:
“I’d probably need three weeks and two spars and that would be see him last the whole of one round, tops.”
Paul is the most famous of the crossover stars having lost to Tommy Fury but beaten once great and now almost 60-year-old heavyweight legend Mike Tyson back in November on points.
Despite the controversy, the event broke viewership records and had the whole world talking. Where he goes next is unclear but Bellew – who crashed the press conference with an old man – is unlikely to be on the list.
