Tony Bellew has revealed that his November 2018 bout with current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk came about from him drunk dialling promoter Eddie Hearn.
The retired boxer was a guest on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’ to discuss fitness service Peloton, and he revealed that he got into using their equipment after his intoxicated actions led to a cruiserweight showdown with the Ukrainian.
The pair fought at Manchester Arena four years ago, with Bellew hoping to become the first Briton to hold all four titles in the division. However, he was defeated by Usyk who retained his undisputed champion status thanks to an eighth-round stoppage.
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And thanks to Bellew’s tell-all on Crouch’s podcast, we now know that the fight came about from Bellew organising the fight while he was drunk as Usyk defeated Murat Gassiev and called out the then-retired Bellew.
The 39-year-old said: “I’ll just give you a little quick story why you shouldn’t have a phone or agree to anything when alcohol is in your body. Because the last time I agreed to something and alcohol was in my body, I ended up getting beaten up by a fella called Oleksandr Usyk.
“So you shouldn’t agree deals when alcohol is in the system. I was on my honeymoon, officially retired from professional boxing. Someone showed me a fight Usyk was having on the TV, told me to watch it, that maniac screamed my name out after the fight with the four belts around his waist.
“P***ed as an absolute fart, I phoned up Eddie Hearn, bearing in mind I’d just beaten David Haye in the rematch, I’d retired. I’d just had my wedding, which Eddie was at, and I said ‘Eddie, make the fight’. Eddie’s words were ‘Tony, you don’t need that you’re happily retired, I was at your wedding last week, you’ve done it, you’ve cracked life. You’ve made enough money to never have to work again, you’ve done alright’.
“I said ‘If you don’t make the fight, I’ll make it. He went ‘not a problem, I'll make it’. The thought of him losing a penny, never mind a pound, he would’ve lost sleep. So the next day, I woke up, I’ve got four missed calls off Eddie Hearn the next morning, it’s about 10:30 in the morning. He says ‘it’s all done, it's sorted’.
“I said ‘first of all you’ve called me four times, you don’t call me once a month, I’ve got four missed calls off you’. He says ‘It’s all done it’s sorted’.
“I said ‘What do you mean?’ He said ‘Usyk fight’. I said ‘I have no idea what you’re on about'.
“He said ‘you phoned me last night and told me if you don’t make the fight, you’ll make it yourself’, and that’s how the fight with Oleksandr Usyk came about."
