Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles between 2010 and 2014, and the European cruiserweight title from 2015 to 2016. As an amateur, he is a three-time ABA heavyweight champion. He portrayed antagonist boxer Ricky Conlan in the films Creed and Creed III.
Early life Anthony Lewis Bellew was born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool on 30 November 1982. Bellew's father was white, while his mother was biracial, with both black/African and white/European ancestry. He first lived on Mulgrave Street in Toxteth, later moving to Smithdown Road in nearby Wavertree.
Professional career Light-heavyweight Early career Bellew made his professional boxing debut on 6 October 2007 with a 2nd-round TKO against journeyman Jamie Ambler. He followed up the victory with further wins in 2007 over Adam Wilcox, fighting at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Wayne Brooks at the Bolton Arena.
In 2008 Bellew defeated Paul Bonson, Ayitey Powers, Hastings Rasani, Jevgēņijs Andrejevs, and Phil Goodwin to take his record up to 8–0. During 2009 he advanced to an unbeaten 12–0 with further wins against Matthew Ellis, Nick Okoth, Jindrich Velecky, and Martial Bella Oleme.
Commonwealth champion On 12 March 2010 Bellew challenged for the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title, defeating Atoli Moore at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.Liverpool Echo | Smith vs Dodson with undercard report of Bellew vs Moore He made his first defence of the title on 24 September 2010, defeating Bob Ajisafe at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London with Bellew having to recover from a flash knockdown during the fight.Liverpool Echo | Tony Bellew taken championship distance as he defends Commonwealth light-heavyweight belt against Bob Ajisafe He made his second defence of the title on 9 December 2010, returning to the Echo Arena to stop former Commonwealth champion Ovill McKenzie in the eighth-round despite suffering two knockdowns himself in both the first and second rounds.
On 18 May 2011 it was announced that Bellew would challenge Nathan Cleverly for the WBO light-heavyweight title following a pullout from Cleverly's scheduled opponent Jürgen Brähmer with the fight due to be held only three days later on 21 May 2011. Bellew however, failed to make the weight and was replaced with Aleksy Kuziemski. On 16 July 2011 Bellew made the third defence of his Commonwealth title and also won the vacant British title with a repeat victory over Ovill McKenzie, with the bout this time lasting the full twelve rounds.
Bellew vs. Cleverly It was announced that Bellew would fight Nathan Cleverly in Liverpool, on 15 October 2011, for the WBO light-heavyweight title. Cleverly won the fight via majority decision (MD). One judge scored the bout at 114–114 whereas the other two judges scored the bout at 116–113, and 117–112.
After losing to Cleverly, Bellew took on Danny McIntosh for the vacant British light-heavyweight title, knocking McIntosh out in the fifth round. Next he took on former world title challenger Edison Miranda for the WBC International title, and stopped Miranda in the ninth round.
Bellew vs. Chilemba I, II On 17 November 2012 he beat Roberto Bolonti for the WBC Silver title. Bellew was cut badly but went the full twelve rounds to a win unanimous decision (UD), taking him one step further to a second world title fight. On 30 March 2013, he fought Isaac Chilemba in a title eliminator. The judges scored it a controversial draw. Chilemba granted a rematch which Bellew won on the scorecards after twelve rounds via UD (unanimous decision), with 117–112, and 116–112 twice.
Bellew vs. Stevenson
Bellew was made mandatory challenger for the WBC light-heavyweight title following the win against Chilemba. However, a fight between Adonis Stevenson and Tavoris Cloud occurred on 28 September 2013 with the winner being made to defend his title against Bellew before the end of the year. Stevenson became the first boxer to stop Bellew, winning the fight via technical knockout (TKO). In round six, Stevenson put Bellew down with a left hand, he beat the count and the referee let the fight go on. Bellew was then on the receiving end of another pair of left hands before the referee could get in and put a stop to the bout. At the time of stoppage, Stevenson was ahead on the scorecards with 50–45 twice, and 49–46. Bellew contemplated moving up to cruiserweight after the loss. According to Nielsen Media Research firm, the fight attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers on the HBO network, making it the fifth most watched bout of 2013.
Cruiserweight Bellew celebrated his first fight as a cruiserweight with a twelfth-round knockout (KO) of Valery Brudov on 15 March 2014 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. This was for the vacant WBO International cruiserweight title. Bellew successfully defended the title on 12 July 2014 against Julio Cesar Dos Santos via fifth-round TKO. Dos Santos went down following a left to the jaw.
Bellew vs. Cleverly II On 22 November 2014 Bellew got his rematch against Nathan Cleverly, this time fighting as cruiserweights. The fight took place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool also a WBO cruiserweight championship eliminator. The title was held by Marco Huck at the time. The bout went twelve rounds as Bellew won via split decision (SD). One judge scored the bout 115–114 in favour of Cleverly whereas the other two judges scored the bout 116–112, and 115–113 in favour of Bellew. In the post-fight interview, Bellew said, "I'm over the moon, listen it's over, it's put to bed. We said a lot of things. I don't like him now, but it's been settled tonight. It's over, it's done and I've outworked a great athlete." He also stated that he would accept a rematch at Millennium Stadium if there was any demand for it. Cleverly said he struggled with dealing with Bellew at a higher weight. After the fight, Cleverly moved back down to light-heavyweight.
In 2015, Bellew fought two lower ranked opponents, defeating Ivica Bačurin via tenth-round TKO and Artūrs Kuļikauskis via fifth-round TKO.
Bellew vs. Masternak On 29 November 2015, Sky Sports confirmed that Bellew would fight highly ranked contender and former world title challenger Mateusz Masternak (36–3, 26 KOs) for the vacant European cruiserweight title. The fight took place on 12 December at the O2 Arena in London, as part of the undercard for Anthony Joshua vs. Dillian Whyte. Bellew produced a solid performance as the fight with Masternak was back and forth throughout. Going into the twelfth round, Bellew was winning by one round. Bellew won the fight via UD, with scores of 115–113, and 115–112 twice to capture the European title. Bellew earned an £80,000 purse for the bout.
Bellew vs. Makabu On 29 May 2016, Bellew challenged for the WBC cruiserweight title, vacated by Grigory Drozd, who had been injured and not fought since his KO win in May 2015. Bellew faced Ilunga Makabu (19–1, 18 KOs), who had not lost since his debut back in 2008, at Goodison Park in Liverpool. Makabu was scheduled to fight Drozd, only for the Russian to pull out with an injury, prompting the WBC to strip him. Bellew weighed in at 14st 3lbs 1oz while Makabu took to the scales at just over 14st. Bellew overcame a first-round knockdown to KO Makabu and become WBC champion, winning his first world title. During the post-fight interview, Bellew called out Denis Lebedev, but not in Russia and David Haye at cruiserweight.
Bellew vs. Flores Bellew announced he would be making his first voluntary defence of his world title at the Echo Arena on 15 October, against 37-year-old BJ Flores (32–2–1, 20 KOs) live on Sky Sports. This was the first time Flores challenged for a major world title, having previously fought for an interim title and the IBO title. The WBC stated the winner had to fight Mairis Briedis next, the mandatory challenger, following his win over Olanrewaju Durodola. Briedis also fought on the undercard, stopping unbeaten prospect Simon Vallily. Briedis agreed to take a step aside fee to allow this fight to take place.
After an even first round, the second round produced more action as Bellew hit Flores with a low blow. The referee did not see this as below the belt, however, Flores stopped for a few seconds to motion the referee that he had been hit with a low blow. Whilst doing so, Bellew piled on more pressure, eventually knocking Flores down. Bellew knocked Flores down a further two times in round two, securing a 10–6 round in his favour. After a fourth knockdown in round three, Flores failed to beat the referee's count, the referee declaring Bellew the winner via KO and Bellew making a first successful defence of his WBC title. Following the win, Bellew called out former Cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion David Haye, who was ringside, repeating that he was next. Referring to Haye as 'SpongeBob', Bellew carried on the verbal assault in the post-fight interview using profanity and taunting Haye, stating he has been 'conning the British public' since he announced his comeback. Eddie Hearn claimed the fight could take place at heavyweight or at cruiserweight for Bellew's WBC title.
Heavyweight Bellew vs. Haye I, II
On 25 November 2016, Eddie Hearn announced via Twitter that Bellew's next fight would be against Haye. The fight date was set for 4 March 2017 at The O2 Arena, London and was shown on Sky Box Office and was Bellew's first heavyweight fight. Due to the fight being at heavyweight, Bellew's WBC cruiserweight title was not on the line.
At the first press conference on 30 November, a fight broke out as Bellew and Haye went face to face and it appeared on the replay, Haye had managed to land a left hook on Bellew, leaving a mark. Both fighters were then separated before going their ways. On 3 March 2017, Haye weighed 224.9 lbs, heavier than Bellew who came in at 213 lbs, a career high. The bout started as a stalemate until the sixth round, where Haye injured his ankle and fell twice. Bellew then took control of the fight as Haye opted to continue. Bellew knocked Haye down and out of the ropes late in the eleventh round. Haye managed to make it to his feet, but his trainer Shane McGuigan threw in the towel, giving Bellew a TKO win. Bellew credited Haye for his bravery, while Haye refused to blame his injury and stated that Bellew was "by far the better fighter", though stated that he wanted a rematch. Bellew contemplated retiring after claiming he had done it all. He also revealed he broke his hand in the early rounds. At the time of stoppage, Bellew led on all three scorecards 96–93. With a 60–40 split of the £7 million purse, Haye earned £4.2 million while Bellew earned £2.8 million, his biggest purse by far. It was reported that the fight generated 890,000 buys on Sky Box Office PPV.
On 14 March, Hearn said that Bellew would fight again in 2017, a day later, he told Sky Sports that Bellew may need surgery on his broken hand which could see him out of action for up to five months. On 28 March, the WBC changed Bellew's world championship status to emeritus champion. This also meant the winner between Marco Huck and Mairis Briedis on 1 April would become new world champion and not interim, as it was initially announced. The bout was won by Briedis, thus making him the new WBC champion. In June 2017, Bellew stated that he would next fight in either November or December 2017. He had three potential names to consider, those being WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and a rematch with Haye. Parker was his main interest.