Dawson Would KO Bellew Easily: Thoughts On The Liverpool Card

It's back to the drawing room, Tony.

The man has talent and I am a fan of his, but last night he let himself down. He was a thug in the build up, a frustrated bully in the ring, and a sore loser in the post fight, even though he didn't lose.

Eddie Hearn spoke the truth when he said it was a potential blessing, as it means Tony can now take an extra fight. No way is he putting him in with Dawson after that.

Tony Bellew is a good guy at heart, but his emotions and ego are all over the place. He has no signature win on his record, and struggles to fight to a plan or adapt when emotions inevitably take over. What he was doing in the build up to this one I'll never know, all that talk and the stare downs were embarrassing, especially when you consider how lost he looked in the ring. Punch stats can be misleading but I'd like to know how many times Tony missed. He needs to be grateful he didn't lose the fight, work the body more, and shut up. He's going to blow his Sky coverage if he lets his attitude take over. Look at Froch vs Dirrell. Another slippery negative fighter, but look how Froch learned from that ugly fight.

Let's hope Bellew does too.

Scotty Cardle looked good but cuts way too easily.

Callum Smith did everything right.

Tom Stalker was poor. Lacked composure, lacked ring generalship. Needs to work on his ring smarts and use his advantages and not be so obvious, he beasted the other guy in size.

Kal Yafai got injured so hard to tell how he did.

Jazza can't punch properly and will never go beyond British level IMO.

Rocky Fielding looked good against a D grade operator.

All in all a decent card, not great, not terrible, just decent.

Thoughts on Liverpool?

Crolla beat Derry too, silly decision.

Draw was a fair result but if anyone was hard done by it was Derry not Crolla.

Think Tom Stalker did something which every novice pro has done at some point, looked at the lads record and thought he could walk through him.

Crolla boxed well on the back foot and made Mathews miss with a lot of punches, could easily have gone either way but Crolla lost his way and his jab in the middle rounds and let Mathews back in to it.

Bellew was poor but Chilemba will always be an opponent who makes you look a lot worse than you are. Sky could do with some new commentators though, Nick Halling and Jim Watt are likely to be up Tonys rear end for some time yet.

Agree with your assessment that the card was ok, neither great nor awful.

Callum Smith looked a classy operator and was the standout performance for my money. Agree totally on Stalker, who looked like he had not made any adjustment to being a professional. He clearly won, and 40-37 might have been about right but the individual rounds were all a lot closer than they should have been.

I had Matthews just winning having built up a healthy lead in the second and third quarters of the fight. However, Crolla clearly took the last three and a draw is by no means an unfair result.

Bellew was gifted a few early rounds before Chilemba finally woke up in about the fifth. Had Tony narrowly ahead at halfway, but then Chilemba started to make his man pay as well as miss. Once he upped his output considerably from about the sixth onwards, he bossed the fight and made Bellew look a bit one-dimensional.

The punch success stats from that fight would make fascinating reading, and I'd think the reason Sky did not show them as they would not have mirrored the picture they were painting of the home fighter being hard done by. Chilemba was a narrow winner for me in the end, had it 6-4 to him with two even, but again will not argue with the draw.

Bellew's rant after the fight about how he should have got the nod because he was at home was pretty pathetic. Presumably he won't mind getting shafted on the scorecards should he have to fight abroad for a title?

Thought beforehand this might be a lot trickier and a bigger jump in class than some had appreciated. I'd back Chilemba to beat Cleverley if they fought, put it that way. As it is, think he's just joined the 'who needs him' club and Bellew's people will find a path towards a title shot that does not involve fighting him again.

Stalker didn't use his skills and talent. Fair play to the kid he fought who only turned pro 5 weeks ago. He did pretty well and hopefully can take something from the fight.

I think Crolla is a better fighter than Derry but he was a little bit too conservative which is not surprising after the first fight. I scored it a draw but I think Crolla was well on top of Derry in the final rounds and would have won if it was a 15 rounder. Crolla was getting a lot of success with the body shots late on which make me wonder why he didn't throw more to the body earlier.

I read a rumour Crolla was unwell after the fight so hopefully he's ok.


The Bellew fight was a stinker. A Chilemba v Hopkins fight could be used as a mental torture technique. Thinking over it I reckon Chilemba was hard done by. He did enough and Bellew barely landed a punch. The crowd knew it as well, ever see a Liverpool crowd so quiet? Chilemba by 2 was fair although I read an American report that gave the fight to Chilemba by 117-111.

Bellew looked one dimensional and a bit slow. He might learn from this but he doesn't look anywhere near ready for Dawson. I think Hearn will make the rematch with Chilemba as it is a mandatory fight. Hearn will have no problem feeding Bellew to Dawson. Eddie makes the tough fights remember.

A decent card I thought, liked watching it all on red button which is a nice addition.

Not been impressed with Tom Stalker yet, think because of his age he wants to make a quick impression but just looking sloppy instead, someone needs to calm him down. Although don't think he will get to world level.

Yafai hard to tell due to injury but been impressive so far.

I'm not a fan of cardle, I can't pinpoint why, maybe his style, he looks to me like a poorer version of Paul mcklosky another fighter I couldn't take too. And seems to have a. Cut problem.

Fielding looked much improved I think British title fight within 12 months.

Jazza looks like a slapped havnt seen much of him before but Galahad would win if they meet IMO.

I had crolla winner by a round, I like both fighters and enjoy both styles, a 3rd fight would be good for me.

I like bellew but looked awful today, and wasn't impressed in his last fight either, must do better to have a chance at Dawson, 2 more fights at least needed there.

If I were Hearn I would let surrender the title shot to Chilemba and let Dawson get him out of the way. I think Bellew loses a rematches to Chilemba. Id hold Bellew back and hope for a different opponent to fight the eliminator again for.

had crolla edging it by a round or 2. and had chilemba winning by about 2/3 rounds.

does anyone know what the commotion in the crowd was about, cant remember what round, i think it was either 5th or 9th.

Apparently some fans from Manchester got a bit boisterous and the Liverpool fans in the upper tier started throwing pints and coins. A bit of a dust up kicked off then but it was handbags from reading reports.

yeah i missed that round of action, waiting to see if eddie hearns (the only person watching the fight) to turn around and see what was going on.

Thanks for the posts guys, great insight as usual.

The card was good but everyone was a bit too try hard. Blinded by the lights. We need someone to de-construct an opponent or at worse blast them away. Only Callum Smith looked like doing that, really.

Nothing worse than Draws to spoil an evening.....

As for Crolla he's wasting his time..wants to get a 9-5 job....

Mathews should be an easy night for anyone half decent....

As for Bellew well styles make fights...No reason he can't dominate a less evasive opponent....

Don't think Dawson beats him easily at all........

You're doing Mathews a disservice there Truss. Decent test for any domestic lightweight.

Decent "test" domestically...........

and Crolla can't beat him.......

Exactly.....Gavin Rees isn't any great shakes but he stopped him.