By Edward Chaykovsky
WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has promised to give a real pound to challenger BJ Flores (30-2-1, 20KOs) when they collide on October 15th in Liverpool.
Flores secured the opportunity after a war of words with Bellew (27-2-1, 17KOs) on the social networks. Bellew views the contest as the perfect catapult to a 2017 showdown with former two division champion David Haye.
Flores and Haye are very close friends. For the upcoming fight, Flores is even being trained by Haye's coach, Shane McGuigan.
From the moment Bellew captured the vacant WBC title in May, he's been calling for a fight with Haye - who over the last few years has been fighting as a heavyweight. Haye returned to the ring in January and has a very beefy, muscular frame. It's doubtful that he will ever be capable of getting down to 200-pounds.
Bellew wants to first make a statement by knocking Flores out, then he will target a unification fight - and then wants Haye in early 2017.
"It's looking like it's going to be BJ Flores and I am really looking forward to it," Bellew told Sky Sports. "He's been mouthing off and following me around for a couple of years and I'm just a little bit fed up him now. That's the best way to look at it. I am going to smash BJ Flores to bits and be the first man stopping him. All he keeps saying is that I am a light-heavyweight, I am this, I am that, so we will soon find out."
"I just want to go out there and perform to my best and be recognised as the best cruiserweight in the world. I am looking at unifying the division then take on the 'B*tch from Bermondsey'. He wants big fights and big money and I bring both of them to the table."
"I would like to do it next year [with Haye], as early as possible. I couldn't put a timeframe on it, but it will happen when he needs it to happen and when he needs the money, to be honest. And he is going to need it, if we're honest. He lives this extravagant lifestyle, he jet-sets everywhere and he's after big fights, which he openly said. It would just be a great, great fight, that I will win. I will be the most dangerous fighter he has fought since Wladimir Klitschko."
