Last night, at Goodison Park the home of Everton Football Club, Tony Bellew fulfilled a dream and won the WBC cruiserweight title.
In front of a partisan home crowd, Bellew was matched, for the vacant crown, with the hard-punching Congolese southpaw Ilunga Makabu, a fighter who had knocked out eighteen of his opponents in his nineteen victories.
Looking to get off to a good start, Bellew found himself on the canvas in the first round when a left hand caught him flush on the nose. However, Bellew was soon back on his feet and didn?t appear to be too troubled by the knockdown.
The knockdown came after Bellew had unload a full range of punches on Makabu only to be caught cold when the southpaw sprung forward to catch him with a left.
The second round was a light quieter, with Bellew perhaps nicking it with his superior work rate, however the third round was to be explosive.
Coming forward, Bellew rocked Makabu with a left hook and a right uppercut before smashing him t the canvas with a variety of blows.
Makabu was out cold and wasn?t to recover for a couple of minutes with his status giving those in attendance cause for concern.
In taking the WBC cruiserweight crown, Bellew becomes the 13th current British world champion and after the wonderful win had this to say,
‘He broke my nose with that left hand.
‘I’m talking through my nose now and it’s smashed to bits, but I have a green and gold belt. If you had to take my nose off my face for that belt I’d take it.’
Afterwards, whilst still soaking up the glory, Bellew offered the ?Bermondsey Bitch? a fight, surely Haye and Bellew won?t mix it in the same ring will they?
Bellew Claims WBC Title with 3rd Round Knockout
