Tony Bellew plots new 'super cruiserweight' division with vacant title bout already earmarked

Tony Bellew plans new weight division after being placed on WBC committee and proposes Oleksandr Usyk vs Deontay Wilder for new vacant belt

Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew believes that he can deliver a new weight division for boxing at 'super cruiserweight', after being elected onto the WBC committee aimed at investigating Don Majeski's plans to form the new division for lighter heavyweights.

The 37-year-old competed in all three categories from light-heavyweight to heavyweight during his professional career, and is in favour of the creation of the division, and believes that Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk could be the two fighters that fight for the vacant title, should the proposal go ahead.

In an interview with Talk Sport Fight Night , Bellew spoke of his own experiences switching between the weight divisions, and has admitted that change should be enforced as many of the lighter heavyweights cannot compete at the top division simply due to size difference.

He said: "I am a fighter who fought obviously at light-heavyweight.I boiled down to that weight category and then jumped up immediately and went to cruiserweight.

“I’ve done it, so I understand how tough the weight jump is. The difference in all the other weight categories is minimal – 4lbs, 3lbs, sometimes 6lbs. The weight jump from light-heavyweight to cruiserweight is from 175lbs to 200lbs – that’s 25lbs. That’s just too much, I get what Don Majeski’s saying because in the current game at heavyweight the big boys are too big and the smaller heavyweights are not able to compete with the bigger boys.

“As great as some of them are – the likes of Oleksandr Usyk – it’s looked at now that he’s not gonna be able to compete with the monsters. Not because of his boxing ability, purely because of his size. Here’s where my thinking goes with the WBC, and I’ve said this to Mauricio Sulaiman the WBC president.

“I actually like the divisions going from 175lbs up to 190lbs [instead of 200lbs]. That will make it a bit better for the guys who are struggling at light-heavyweight, but are not monster cruiserweights. Then, if I had my way, I would go from 190lbs to 220lbs. You’re looking at the ‘small heavyweights’. I would’ve fallen into that category quite comfortably, Oleksandr Usyk falls into that category quite comfortably.

“Deontay Wilder falls into that category quite comfortably, David Haye falls into that category quite comfortably.”

The 'Bomber' also dismissed talks of forming a 'super-heavyweight' division, and believes that his investigation with the WBC committee will lead to the best outcome for the sport, and highlighed the potential fights that could take place at 220lbs.

"You can’t mess around, you can’t have a ‘super-heavyweight’ in boxing. There’s one heavyweight division, that’s all there should ever be, you can’t go messing around with the names of them. People say, ‘Well, what would you call it?'. I would say you go to cruiserweight [at 190lbs] and maybe ‘super-cruiserweight’ [at 220lbs]. Something of that ilk. You can’t ever have a ‘super-heavyweight’ division, it’s not reasonable, it’s ridiculous.

“This weight class we’re looking to bring in is the perfect thing and if I had complete control of something like this, the first match-up I would look to do would be Deontay Wilder vs Oleksandr Usyk for the belt. It’s an amazing fight, the division would be relevant immediately with a fight of that magnitude.”

HÖRFA are proud sponsors of Boxing News Now