Tony Bellew Destroys BJ Flores: “Bring on David Haye Next”!
By James “The Truth” Doell
Last night from the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, WBC Cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, 28-2-1, 18 KO’s, made the first defense of his title by destroying BJ Flores, 32-3-1, 20 KO’s, in just three rounds.
Flores talked a lot of trash leading up to this fight, but it didn’t do him much good in the ring tonight. The first round of the fight was a feel out round for both fighters, with Flores implementing his jab early. The second round is when things started to go downhill fast for the American fighter. He was hit with a body shot and while complaining to the ref that it was a low blow, Bellew rushed him and caught him with a right-left combination, sending him to the canvas for the second time in his career.
He got up without issue and continued to fight, but was floored again by a left hook to the top of his head. He again rose to his feet, only to be knocked down one more time before the round ended, and again getting to his feet to survive the round. With all the momentum now in Bellew’s favor, Flores came out fighting in the third. His attack was ineffective however, as Bellew easily ducked out of the way of his wild punches.
The final blow came soon after as Flores came forward and was caught with a hard right hand to the body followed up by a left hook to the head sending him to the canvas for the last time as the referee counted him out of the fight. This was the first time Flores has been stopped in his career, and after failing to win a world title in his third shot, his boxing future is very unclear.
Immediately after stopping BJ Flores; Bellew jumped threw the ropes and out of the ring in an attempt to go after David Haye. Security restrained him and the two exchanged a war of words. Bellew returned to the ring and proceeded to call out Haye in his post-fight interview:
“He’s been conning the British public ever since this pathetic comeback of his.”
“Them two guys you just fought are working in town right now. They’re actually now working on nightclub doors or putting the bins away. They were a joke.”
“You predicted BJ was going to beat me and he got smashed. You’re going to get smashed too.”
“Remember what happened when I was an amateur and you were fighting for the British title; me and Pricey spanked you in the gym.”
“I’ll put you and that pathetic haircut to sleep”
“I smashed your buddy, your playmate, your playboy, your nightclub buddy, and I will smash you the exact same way.”
“He’s a cruiserweight, he’s gone to heavyweight because he loves money, but I’m the biggest payday you can get right now so bitch we better do it soon.”
Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who promoted tonight’s event, also commented on the possibility of a Tony Bellew vs David Haye fight happening:
“You don’t need me for this one”
“This is a fight that’s got to happen, they both know how to sell a fight. And I’ll leave it to them.”
“We’ll make sure its delivered if the public wants it. I know they do, Tony Bellew wants it, it stands at David he’s got irons in the fire at heavyweight, but listen, we know he loves the pound note, he loves the big fights.”
It looks as though a move to heavyweight could be on the horizon for Tony Bellew.
In the co main event; 2012 Olympic gold medalist “Cool Hand” Luke Campbell 15-1, 12 KO’s, stopped “Dirty” Derry Matthews, 38-11-2, 20 KO’s, in the fourth round to retain his commonwealth and WBC silver lightweight titles. Both fighters started very carefully, with Campbell occasionally sneaking in a straight left hand. Matthews then began to come forward, but his attack was ineffective as Campbell made him miss and countered him with straight left hands and effective body shots.
The beginning of the end for Matthews came in the closing seconds of the third round, when he was dropped by a looping left hand to the head. He rose from the knockdown and complained that he was tripped. In the fourth and final round of the fight, Campbell’s body work paid off as he sent Matthews to the canvas with a hard left to the stomach. Matthews thought about it for a moment, and again rose to his feet, only to be dropped by another body shot seconds later after being swarmed with a huge flurry of punches. This time he failed to get to his feet as the referee counted him out of the fight.
To open up the broadcast; unbeaten bantamweight Ryan Burnett, 15-0, 9 KO’s, successfully defended his British bantamweight title via unanimous decision against former European bantamweight champion Ryan Farrag, 16-3, 4 KO’s. It was only Burnett’s second time going twelve rounds, and he looked impressive. Farrag came out strong, moving forward and applying effective pressure as Burnett used his jab to gauge his distance and land precise punches. In the fourth round, the fight took a different turn as Burnett began to time Farrag and come forward himself.
He took over the fight, landing hard body shots and uppercuts through the middle rounds. Farrag found success at times, but it was Burnett who was dictating the fight and landing the more effective shots. Knowing he was well behind on the judges’ scorecards; Farrag rallied once more in the tenth round, but it didn’t matter much as Burnett got back on track in the eleventh and finished strong through the twelfth and final round. The judges scored the bout 118-111, 117-111, and 118-110, all in favor of Ryan Burnett.
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