Undisputed Jr. Heavyweight World Champion Oleksandr Usyk will defend his WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine belts against Tony Bellew at Manchester Arena on November 10, live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in the US.

Pound-for-pound star Usyk made history by outclassing Murat Gassiev to become the first Cruiserweight to hold all four recognised belts, following his sensational World Boxing Super Series win in July.

The 31-year-old won Olympic, World and European amateur golds before steamrolling his way to the top of the Jr. Heavyweight division after only 15 fights, but former WBC World Champion Bellew believes he will become the first man to beat Usyk on November 10.

A glittering career has seen Bellew win British, Commonwealth, European and World titles, and the Liverpudlian warrior is aiming for a fairytale ending in Manchester, hinting that this could be his final battle before he retires.

“I’ve been preparing for this fight for a long time and I’m delighted that we’ve got the venue and the date finalised – I cannot wait to fight in the UK,” said Usyk. “I am deep into my training camp with my team, working hard and preparing for a long fight with Tony. He says he will beat me and I love his attitude, but you cannot beat-up somebody who is invisible in the ring! As always, I will be victorious on Nov 10.”

“This is the ultimate test for me,” said Bellew. “There is no greater test than Oleksandr Usyk, he is one of the most feared men in boxing. This is nothing new to me, everyone says that I can’t do it again. Everyone is saying that I’ll get beat-up quickly, but we’ll find out won’t we.

“Make no mistake, I know this is the most dangerous fight of my life but I’m also going into this with my eyes wide open, I’m not in awe of Usyk. I won’t stand and admire him and allow him to rattle off five-punch combinations on my head.

“He’s meeting someone now who’s just as quick as him, someone that’s competed at a division lighter than him and someone that’s come across fighters much more powerful than him.

“I’m going into this fight with absolutely nothing to lose because the whole World thinks I’m going to get smashed. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. On November 10 I’m going to do something that nobody has ever done before, I’m going to knockout an undisputed Cruiserweight Champion of the World.”

“It’s an absolute honour to promote Britain’s first ever undisputed title fight in the history of the sport,” said Eddie Hearn. “This one of the biggest and best fights in boxing with Tony Bellew daring to be great against one of the top pound-for-pounders in the sport in Oleksandr Usyk.

“Tony has won British, Commonwealth, European and World titles and after the two big wins against David Haye we felt it might be time to walk away, but with him constantly improving and the lure of becoming undisputed king, the temptation was too much. For Oleksandr, the plan is to finish his chapter at Cruiserweight on November 10 and then move up to Heavyweight where he will chase a fight with unified World Champion Anthony Joshua. This is going to be a thrilling fight on a huge night of boxing in Manchester – November 10 can’t come soon enough!”

“I cannot wait for this fight,” said Alex Krassyuk of K2 Promotions. “Two lionhearted warriors will collide for all of the Cruiserweight World titles. This is fight that the World has been waiting for and I’m delighted to be part of history in the making.

“Many experts don’t give Tony a chance in this fight but he has proved many times that being an underdog does not mean being a loser. I can’t see Usyk having an easy walk in the park on November 10. This is the biggest opportunity of Tony’s career and he has nothing to lose, this makes him very dangerous.

“All of our focus is on Tony Bellew and November 10 but once Usyk defeats him he will be targeting the king of the Heavyweight division, Anthony Joshua.”

Photo by Mark Robinson

Tony Bellew will return to the cruiserweight division after it was confirmed he will challenge undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk on November 10.

Ukrainian Usyk will put his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts on the line at Manchester Arena when he takes on Bellew, who moved up to heavyweight for his last two bouts.

The Englishman, who previously held the WBC title in the cruiserweight division, had suggested he could retire after defeating domestic rival David Haye for a second time in May.

However, Bellew has decided to carry on fighting after accepting the chance to take on the unbeaten Usyk, insisting he can once again upset the odds.

Usyk won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games and is 15-0 since turning pro, unifying the cruiserweight division in July by beating Murat Gassiev on points in Moscow.

“I’ve been preparing for this fight for a long time and I’m delighted that we’ve got the venue and the date finalised – I cannot wait to fight in the UK,” he said.

“I am deep into my training camp with my team, working hard and preparing for a long fight with Tony. He says he will beat me and I love his attitude, but you cannot beat up somebody who is invisible in the ring!”

Photo by Mark Robinson

Tony Bellew will return to the Jr. Heavyweight division after it was confirmed he will challenge undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk on November 10. (photos by Lawrence Lustig).

Ukrainian Usyk will put his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts on the line at Manchester Arena when he takes on Bellew, who moved up to heavyweight for his last two bouts.

The Englishman, who previously held the WBC title in the Jr. Heavyweight division, had suggested he could retire after defeating domestic rival David Haye for a second time in May.

However, Bellew has decided to carry on fighting after accepting the chance to take on the unbeaten Usyk, insisting he can once again upset the odds.

Usyk won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games and is 15-0 since turning pro, unifying the Jr. Heavyweight division in July by beating Murat Gassiev on points in Moscow.

“I’ve been preparing for this fight for a long time and I’m delighted that we’ve got the venue and the date finalised – I cannot wait to fight in the UK,” he said.

“I am deep into my training camp with my team, working hard and preparing for a long fight with Tony. He says he will beat me and I love his attitude, but you cannot beat up somebody who is invisible in the ring!”

https://www.boxingscene.com/photos-tony-bellew-oleksandr-usyk-face-face-wembley–132089

Undisputed Jr. Heavyweight World Champion Oleksandr Usyk will defend his WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine belts against Tony Bellew at Manchester Arena on November 10, live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in the US.

Pound-for-pound star Usyk made history by outclassing Murat Gassiev to become the first Jr. Heavyweight to hold all four recognised belts, following his sensational World Boxing Super Series win in July.

The 31-year-old won Olympic, World and European amateur golds before steamrolling his way to the top of the Jr. Heavyweight division after only 15 fights, but former WBC World Champion Bellew believes he will become the first man to beat Usyk on November 10.

A glittering career has seen Bellew win British, Commonwealth, European and World titles, and the Liverpudlian warrior is aiming for a fairytale ending in Manchester, hinting that this could be his final battle before he retires.

“I’ve been preparing for this fight for a long time and I’m delighted that we’ve got the venue and the date finalised – I cannot wait to fight in the UK,” said Usyk. “I am deep into my training camp with my team, working hard and preparing for a long fight with Tony. He says he will beat me and I love his attitude, but you cannot beat-up somebody who is invisible in the ring! As always, I will be victorious on Nov 10.”

“This is the ultimate test for me,” said Bellew. “There is no greater test than Oleksandr Usyk, he is one of the most feared men in boxing. This is nothing new to me, everyone says that I can’t do it again. Everyone is saying that I’ll get beat-up quickly, but we’ll find out won’t we.

“Make no mistake, I know this is the most dangerous fight of my life but I’m also going into this with my eyes wide open, I’m not in awe of Usyk. I won’t stand and admire him and allow him to rattle off five-punch combinations on my head.

“He’s meeting someone who’s just as quick as him, someone that’s competed at a division lighter than him and someone that’s come across fighters much more powerful than him.

“I’m going into this fight with absolutely nothing to lose because the whole World thinks I’m going to get smashed. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. On November 10 I’m going to do something that nobody has ever done before, I’m going to knockout an undisputed Cruiserweight Champion of the World.”

“It’s an absolute honour to promote Britain’s first ever undisputed title fight in the history of the sport,” said Eddie Hearn. “This one of the biggest and best fights in boxing with Tony Bellew daring to be great against one of the top pound-for-pounders in the sport in Oleksandr Usyk.

“Tony has won British, Commonwealth, European and World titles and after the two big wins against David Haye we felt it might be time to walk away, but with him constantly improving and the lure of becoming undisputed king, the temptation was too much. For Oleksandr, the plan is to finish his chapter at Cruiserweight on November 10 and then move up to Heavyweight where he will chase a fight with unified World Champion Anthony Joshua. This is going to be a thrilling fight on a huge night of boxing in Manchester – November 10 can’t come soon enough!”

“I cannot wait for this fight,” said Alex Krassyuk of K2 Promotions. “Two lionhearted warriors will collide for all of the Cruiserweight World titles. This is a fight that the World has been waiting for and I’m delighted to be part of history in the making.

“Many experts don’t give Tony a chance in this fight but he has proved many times that being an underdog does not mean being a loser. I can’t see Usyk having an easy walk in the park on November 10. This is the biggest opportunity of Tony’s career and he has nothing to lose, this makes him very dangerous.

“All of our focus is on Tony Bellew and November 10 but once Usyk defeats him he will be targeting the king of the Heavyweight division, Anthony Joshua.”

If you saw WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly’s close 12 round majority decision win over challenger Tony Bellew (16-1, 10 KO’s) last Saturday night you would think the last thing that Cleverly needs to be doing is trying to move forward to fight WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson or 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins. But that’s exactly what the 24-year-old Cleverly wants to do.

I think he’s stupid for wanting this, because I think he didn’t even prove that he’s better than Bellew last weekend. I scored the fight a draw and that was after giving Cleverly a couple of mercy rounds. I really think he should have lost, but knowing how popular he is in the UK, I figured he would be given rounds that were close even if Bellew appeared to do the better work. The judges scored it 117-112, 114-114 and 116-113. The 117-112 score was just plain strange because there was no way on earth that Cleverly won by those wide of score.

Instead of looking to fight Dawson or Hopkins, and get dominated, Cleverly needs to give Bellew a rematch but with a whole different crew of judges apart from the one that scored it 114-114. I think Cleverly needs to show that he’s better than Bellew before he can move on to bigger and better things like Dawson or Hopkins. And right now Cleverly and Bellew are about equal. That’s just the reality of it. Cleverly can move on if he wants to but he looks bad because he didn’t show that he was better than Bellew.

Hopkins and Dawson aren’t going to waste time fighting Cleverly. That’s not going to happen. Dawson wants to fight a rematch against Jean Pascal, while Hopkins is injured from a bad shoulder injury. Who knows how long it will take for that injury to heal, but I don’t think he’ll want to fight a less than popular guy like Cleverly in his next fight in the U.S. Hopkins won’t travel to England, that’s the only place that a Cleverly vs. Hopkins fight has any significance. U.S fans won’t buy that fight, especially after the PPV fiasco of the Hopkins-Dawson fight.

Cleverly said this to ringtv: “I think Shumenov would be good next step for me. He’s only had about 13 fights and is WBA champion. Or there’s Tavoris Cloud, the IBF champion, who is a good fighter. There’d both be unification fights. If a fight with Hopkins or Dawson came along I would take it. Whether or not I’m ready, I don’t know.”

You’re not ready, Cleverly; take it from me. I think Cloud would knock Cleverly out with his high work rate and the same with Shumenov. With his poor defense, Cleverly would be a sitting duck against Cloud and Shumenov.
I hate to say it but Cleverly pretty much found his upper level in the Bellew fight and he’s reached his ceiling.

By Scott Gilfoid:
http://www.boxingnews24.com/2011/10/cleverly-still-wants-hopkins-or-dawson-next-but-will-settle-for-cloud-or-shumenov/

Nathan Cleverly did just enough to retain his WBO light-heavyweight title on points at the end of a real war with Tony Bellew.

Liverpudlian Bellew produced the fight of his life in front of his home fans at the Echo Arena, proving he’s more than just a big puncher with a tremendous display of boxing skills that pushed the champion to the limit.

However Cleverly semed to land the cleaner stuff throughout 12 gruelling rounds, meaning he got the nod on a majority verdict.

The Welshman had it 117-112 and 116-113 in his favour from two of the judges at ringside with the third not able to split the pair, marking it 114-114.

They certainly did not disappoint after all the hype in the build-up, which included them nearly coming to blows at a press conference before their scheduled first fight, one which Bellew had to pull out of due to weight issues.

The extra wait proved worth it though and even referee Richie Davies was ready for fireworks from the moment the first bell sounded, warning the challenger within a minute for using his head.

The telling off did not bother Bellew though, and in the second round he loaded up with some big right hands that had his vocal supporters on their feet to cheer him on.

Cleverly responded to the onslaught with a show of defiance, both to his opponent and the crowd, sticking out his tongue and doing a little jig to suggest none of the punches had caused any damage.

Still, he was again on the wrong end of a few in the third, Bellew surprisingly out-jabbing a man who was supposed to have the superior talent of the two.

But by the seventh it appeared Cleverly’s work to the body was beginning to slow down his rival – only for ‘Bomber’ Bellew to get a second wind and pour forward, including landing a straight right in the 10th that would have floored many a man.

In the end, though, Cleverly’s champion pedigree saw him come on strong at the finish, and it was he who looked much the more confident over the outcome when the final bell sounded to end a sensational Anglo-Welsh battle that will leave many calling for a second instalment.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,12183_7244849,00.html