Only a few men have ever gone from being cruiserweight world champion to heavyweight king, but no one has ever done the same in reverse.
Tony Bellew has experience of fighting at both cruiserweight, where he became the WBC world champion back in 2016, before then moving up to heavyweight. Although he didn’t win a world title in the most famous division, he did secure back-to-back wins against David Haye in huge shows on Sky Sports Boxing Office.
He then moved back down to cruiserweight to challenge Usyk for the undisputed title. Though he came up just short and was stopped in round eight, he put up a superb effort through the first half of the fight.
Usyk is only the second man to ever be undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, with the other being Evander Holyfield. The Ukrainian shocked fans when he announced his plans to move back down to 200lbs once he’s finished his business at heavyweight.
Speaking to Lucky Block Casino, Bellew was asked if he was surprised by Usyk’s plan.
“No, it didn’t surprise me because I’m the first person he told it to. I interviewed him for DAZN, and I said when you defeat Tyson Fury, this was months ago, he just smiled and he says to me I’m going back down. I went you what? He said I’m going back down, I want to be the best at cruiserweight again.”
It is, however, a move Bellew thinks he will realise is unrealistic.
“I said you know that’s not beneficial. You know that’s not good. His body has time to adjust and adapt and he thinks he can go back down but it’s not that easy. Your body gets used to it.
He’ll understand and he’ll change his mind but it’s so hard to go back down. But listen, there is no one defeating him. I’d like to see him just walk away and go off into the sunset.”
Usyk will remain at heavyweight for at least one more fight when he rematches Tyson Fury in December for three of the major world titles.
- Toby Morgan
