Anthony Lewis Bellew was born on 30 November 1982 and is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator.
60 Facts About Tony Bellew
2.
Tony Bellew held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, and challenged for the undisputed cruiserweight championship in 2018.
3.
Tony Bellew portrayed antagonist boxer Ricky Conlan in the films Creed and Creed III.
4.
Anthony Lewis Tony Bellew was born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool on 30 November 1982, the son of a black mother and white father.
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Tony Bellew first lived on Mulgrave Street in Toxteth, later moving to Smithdown Road in nearby Wavertree.
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Tony Bellew made his professional boxing debut on 6 October 2007 with a 2nd-round TKO against journeyman Jamie Ambler.
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Tony Bellew 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.
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On 12 March 2010 Tony Bellew challenged for the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title, defeating Atoli Moore at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
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Tony Bellew 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.
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Tony Bellew 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.
11.
Tony Bellew however, failed to make the weight and was replaced with Aleksy Kuziemski.
12.
On 16 July 2011 Tony Bellew made the third defence of his Commonwealth title and won the vacant British title with a repeat victory over Ovill McKenzie, with the bout this time lasting the full twelve rounds.
13.
Tony Bellew was cut badly but went the full twelve rounds to a win unanimous decision, taking him one step further to a second world title fight.
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Tony Bellew was made mandatory challenger for the WBC light-heavyweight title following the win against Chilemba.
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Stevenson became the first boxer to stop Tony Bellew, winning the fight via technical knockout.
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Tony 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.
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Tony Bellew celebrated his first fight as a cruiserweight with a twelfth-round knockout of Valery Brudov on 15 March 2014 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
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Tony Bellew successfully defended the title on 12 July 2014 against Julio Cesar Dos Santos via fifth-round TKO.
19.
On 22 November 2014 Tony Bellew got his rematch against Nathan Cleverly, this time fighting as cruiserweights.
20.
The bout went twelve rounds as Tony Bellew won via split decision.
21.
In 2015, Tony Bellew fought two lower ranked opponents, defeating Ivica Bacurin via tenth-round TKO and Arturs Kulikauskis via fifth-round TKO.
22.
On 29 November 2015, Sky Sports confirmed that Tony Bellew would fight highly ranked contender and former world title challenger Mateusz Masternak for the vacant European cruiserweight title.
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Tony Bellew produced a solid performance as the fight with Masternak was back and forth throughout.
24.
On 29 May 2016, Tony 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.
25.
Tony Bellew faced Ilunga Makabu, who had not lost since his debut back in 2008, at Goodison Park in Liverpool.
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Tony Bellew weighed in at 14st 3lbs 1oz while Makabu took to the scales at just over 14st.
27.
Tony Bellew overcame a first-round knockdown to KO Makabu and become WBC champion, winning his first world title.
28.
Whilst doing so, Tony Bellew piled on more pressure, eventually knocking Flores down.
29.
On 25 November 2016, Eddie Hearn announced via Twitter that Tony Bellew's next fight would be against Haye.
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On 3 March 2017, Haye weighed 224.9 lbs, heavier than Tony Bellew who came in at 213 lbs, a career high.
31.
Tony Bellew then took control of the fight as Haye opted to continue.
32.
Tony Bellew knocked Haye down and out of the ropes late in the eleventh round.
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Tony Bellew credited Haye for his bravery, while Haye refused to blame his injury and stated that Tony Bellew was "by far the better fighter", though stated that he wanted a rematch.
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Tony Bellew contemplated retiring after claiming he had done it all.
35.
Tony Bellew revealed he broke his hand in the early rounds.
36.
On 14 March, Hearn said that Tony Bellew would fight again in 2017, a day later, he told Sky Sports that Tony Bellew may need surgery on his broken hand which could see him out of action for up to five months.
37.
In June 2017, Tony Bellew stated that he would next fight in either November or December 2017.
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Tony Bellew had three potential names to consider, those being WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and a rematch with Haye.
39.
In July 2017, Tony Bellew admitted that a potential fight with widely regarded pound for pound number one fighter and unified light-heavyweight champion Andre Ward was of interest and the teams of the respective fighters were currently in negotiations.
40.
Tony Bellew knocked Haye down three times, eventually winning the fight via TKO in round five.
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Tony Bellew came out cautiously in round four, still wary of Haye's power.
42.
In round five, both traded punches, but it was a left hook from Tony Bellew that dropped Haye a third time.
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Haye managed to beat the count again, not long before Tony Bellew started unloading a barrage of punches.
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Tony Bellew went on to dedicate the win to Ashley, his brother-in-law, who had died in August 2017.
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Tony Bellew mentioned Andre Ward, who his team had brief negotiations with in 2017.
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Tony Bellew believed a fight at heavyweight would not be as appealing as he would not gain much with a win.
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Tony Bellew stated it would be his last fight as a professional.
48.
Round two was similar, however Tony Bellew stepped on the gas and landed some clean shots along with some showboating.
49.
Tony Bellew took control in round three, landing two straight right hands.
50.
Usyk began using his jab more and after landing an overhand left, Tony Bellew was left slightly shaken.
51.
Tony Bellew aimed most of his shots to Usyk's body and by round seven, was missing a lot of shots, mostly due to Usyk's foot movement, and ended the round with a bloodied nose.
52.
In round eight, whilst in a neutral corner, Usyk landed a hard left, again buzzing Tony Bellew, forcing him to move away against the ropes.
53.
Tony Bellew announced his retirement in the ring following his defeat to Usyk.
54.
Tony Bellew retired with a record of 30 wins from 34 professional bouts, with 20 coming inside the distance.
55.
Tony Bellew died on Saturday, Anthony Bellew comes back alive.
56.
On 22 November 2018, via social media, Tony Bellew posted a video and a statement officially confirming his retirement from boxing.
57.
In 2020, Tony Bellew took part in the Channel 4 Show SAS: Who Dares Wins.
58.
In 2021, Tony Bellew joined the UK commentary team for DAZN, contributing to their UK boxing coverage and schedule.
59.
On 22 February 2023, regarding the potential upcoming fight planned for Usyk and Tyson Fury, Tony Bellew felt that Usyk would hold an advantage over Fury if the two were to have a championship fight.
60.
Tony Bellew is an avid supporter of his hometown football team Everton FC, and has been paraded on the pitch at Goodison Park at half-time during a home game.