1 week Ago By Tim Bell
Tony Bellew has revealed the hardest hitter he had to face throughout his 11-year professional boxing career. The 42-year-old had an illustrious career in the ring, boasting an impressive record of 30-3-1, with 20 of his victories being knockouts, and is a former cruiserweight world champion. The Scouser called time on his career following a loss to current world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2018, but it wasn't the Ukrainian who he named as the hardest puncher he faced.
Tony Bellew's professional boxing record 34 fights 30 wins 3 losses By knockout 20 2 By decision 10 1 Draws 1 He had many memorable fights during his time in the ring, including two famous meetings with David Haye , scoring several impressive knockouts. Although, perhaps his proudest moment came in May 2016. Bellew fought Ilunga Makabu for the vacant WBC cruiserweight championship.
He came into the fight in red-hot form, winning his last six fights and boasting a knockout percentage of over 50%. His opponent, however, also came into this fight off the back of a great run. Makabu was on a 19-fight win streak and had an astonishing 90% knockout rate.
Despite this, The Bomber made easy work of Makabu and brutally knocked him out in the third round after keeping his opponent pinned against the ropes for a period of sustained pressure. Bellew has also fought several other hard hitters, but one in particular stands out. When asked by GiveMeSport, courtesy of crownsgym.
com , who the hardest puncher he had faced was, the answer was perhaps unsurprising. "David Haye. I mean, he hit me in sparring when I was 21, 22.
I’d just won my first ABA title. And he hit me so hard. My back leg kicked out like a donkey.
I didn't go down, but it just kicked out. I said to him ‘some good shots’. He was amazed I was still awake.
He hits very, very hard. I've been dropped. I've been down.
I've been stopped. But yeah, I've still not been hit by someone like him." Tony Bellew vs David Haye While his cruiserweight title triumph is arguably the most accomplished fight of his career, there can be no question that Bellew's most notorious fights came against David Haye.
Their first meeting came in March 2017 and was full of controversy. The heavyweight clash was billed as a grudge match due to their intensely personal back-and-forths in the press conferences leading up to the fight. Despite Haye being the favourite, due to his impressive career as a heavyweight, Bellew scored a huge upset and stopped The Hayemaker in the 11th round after his opponent's corner threw in the towel.
The bout was full of controversy, however, as Haye suffered an injury in the sixth round but continued to fight on. The two met again over a year later in a clash that was billed as "Repeat or Revenge." The fight would prove to be a repeat of their first meeting as Bellew would produce an unbelievable performance.
After scoring two impressive knockdowns in the third round, an impressive left hook would send Haye down to the mat for a third time— prompting referee Howard Foster to stop the fight. This would ultimately prove to be the last fight of Haye's career as he retired a month later. David Haye has fought some of the biggest names in boxing, but one stood out to him when he had to name the hardest puncher.
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