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Why is Bellew fighting Haye?
- Updated: November 25, 2016
As news of Tony Bellew’s grudge match against David Haye filters through, Sky Sports ask what the world cruiserweight champion is risking by jumping up to heavyweight.
What is Bellew risking?
Emotion is the traditional downfall of a fighter. That’s why mind-games so often feature as a pre-fight spectacle, in an attempt to distract the victim from his plan. Yet Bellew, the WBC cruiserweight champion, has recently appeared to be the exception of this rule – with his blood-pressure red-lining, he has excelled in his past two fights. But can this continue?
The raw passion streaking through Bellew’s veins during his world title win at Goodison Park (which almost back-fired after a first-round knock-down, remember) plus a charged atmosphere in his first defence against BJ Flores has led the Liverpool brawler to take the biggest risk of his career against Haye. They say a gambler should quit while they’re ahead.
Size matters when moving up to heavyweight, the land of the giants, and ironically Haye is a perfect example of that. A former world cruiserweight champion himself, Haye also won gold after stepping up yet looked tiny when Wladimir Klitschko jabbed and wrestled him five years ago. Now, Bellew is making a similar move – the numbers on the scale might appear similar, as they did when Kell Brook fought Gennady Golovkin, but that middleweight fight proves how natural strength and power …
