Tony Bellew

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.

Anthony Lewis Bellew was born in the Toxteth area of Liverpool on 30 November 1982, the son of a black mother and white father.

He first lived on Mulgrave Street in Toxteth, later moving to Smithdown Road in nearby Wavertree.

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.

At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles between 2010 and 2014, 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.

On 12 March 2010 Bellew challenged for the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title, defeating Atoli Moore at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

On 22 November 2014 Bellew got his rematch against Nathan Cleverly, this time fighting as cruiserweights.

He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017.