Bellew lights up Liverpool

After the highs of another thrilling Ricky Burns night in Scotland, all attention turns to Liverpool this week as Tony Bellew makes the first defence of his WBC cruiserweight title.

The devout Everton fan will face Californian BJ Flores at the Echo Arena, while there are several mouth-watering matchups to precede the main event as Luke Campbell and Ryan Burnett both face local favourites Derry Mathews and Ryan Farrag respectively.

Here, we look ahead to a packed card to be shown live on Sky Sports this Saturday…

Tony Bellew v BJ Flores

In football, the saying goes that you are always at your most vulnerable having just scored a goal. For Bellew, after achieving his childhood dream to win at his beloved Goodison Park, that saying might just resonate true in the boxing ring.

Now as champion, Bellew is the hunted man, the one the rest are desperate to face and his first defence is against two-time world title challenger Flores, who got the call after his taunting and brash trash-talking on social media finally got the desired reaction from the champion.

Flores’ (32-2-1-KO20) record in the ring is a notable one with only two defeats against world champions in Danny Green and Beibut Shumenov. He says he has finished with talking and is now ready to KO Bellew.

Bellew (27-2-1-KO17) is a revitalised fighter, now operating at cruiserweight with a new lease of life under trainer Dave Coldwell. Wins over Makabu, Mateusz …

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