BOURNEMOUTH, England – “I seem to always be there, so it’s normal for me,” said “The Bomber” Reece Bellotti, of his tough away day this Saturday in Bournemouth. “It doesn't really matter to me. It’s normal.”

British and Commonwealth junior lightweight champion Bellotti is boxing at the Bournemouth International Centre against European champion Ryan Garner.

But this is nothing new for the 20-5 (15 KOs) “Bomber”, the 34-year-old whose Indian Summer has seen him notch six wins since his loss to Raymond Ford during the pandemic, scalping undefeated Aqib Fiaz and Liam Dillon, and beating then 15-1-1 Youssef Khoumari, 9-1-1 Dean Dodge, 15-1 Levi Giles and 21-1 Michael Gomez Jnr.

Bellotti won the Commonwealth title, then vacant, against Fiaz, before adding the British title against Dillon, making two defenses of both.

Now he hopes to take Garner’s European belt, and it represents a significant career opportunity.

“I always have that away-fighter mentality anyway, because in boxing, you’ve got to win at all costs anyway, regardless of the situation and being in the away corner doesn’t bother me at all.”
Victory over Garner, however, and it is likely that Bellotti transitions back from the blue corner to red. 

Garner is ranked No. 7 by the WBC and in the top 15 by the IBF and the WBO. That means this is the one that could have Bellotti back on the left-hand side of the promotional posters. “Yeah, this is the one, to be fair,” he told BoxingScene. “Me and Garner are very similar in our styles, I think. We both can be aggressive, he’s good on his feet, he gets around the sides, so do I. It’s almost like I’m fighting me in the ring, so it’s a puzzle that I’m going to have to try and undo in the ring. I respect him. I think he’s a very good fighter.”

When the fight was made, there was a buzz of anticipation because of how they compete. They both let their hands go, are industrious and determined. Garner is fighting to move up the ladder; Bellotti is trying to extend his purple patch. The idea, then, is that there will be a war on the south coast. 

“I expect it to be that, I’ll be honest,” Bellotti continued. “I prepared for that and we’re ready for that.”

Bellotti believes Garner is well capable of making his own dreams come true of headlining at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton, but it won’t be at his expense.

For Bellotti, there have been times when he has considered his own future in the sport. The loss to Ford was the fifth of a career that started with real promise with the British fight scene talking up his power. It was also Bellotti’s fourth loss in five fights.
“You always sort of think about it [retirement], especially when I went on a run of defeats and things like that, you think about it, but I always said to anyone that would listen if I didn’t win a British title as a pro, I feel personally that I would have underperformed, so that was always a thing in me to keep going,” Bellotti said.

He also knew, deep down, that he could fight. Ford was a tough out, but his confidence was never dented beyond repair.

“I’ve always got that massive self-belief in myself, I always have,” the 34-year-old went on. “I believe anything that I do, I think I could beat the other person, doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s boxing, running, football, doesn’t matter. I always back myself and I always thought, ‘Yeah, there’s more to it than that.’ Sometimes you hear all the doubters and the people that hate on you and stuff like that, but to me, I’m very strong-minded and I just don’t even think about it. I know I’m on my own path. I know what I’m capable of and it’s more of a personal thing. I don’t let any outside things influence my mind.”

Bellotti’s impressive form includes what he heralds as an underrated win over Khoumari, who was being managed by heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte at the time, but through the successes and losses, Bellotti has been exposed to every facet of boxing. 

“I have a passion for the sport, I love the sport, I love everything about it,” he said. “The business side of it? It’s not that I’m totally clued up about it, it’s just that I now understand it more being experienced and having them losses. They [the powers that be] are only really that interested in winners, which I get. Most businesses aren’t going to concentrate on people that lose, so I understand it as well. Not that it’s nice to be around that section when you do lose, because you kind of are just brushed to the side. But I’m proof that if you dig in and keep going that the interest comes back.”

Claiming the British title has been Bellotti’s pinnacle to date. He shut up the doubters and critics – and they’re available at all levels – but he wants to push on for more glory, and it is the type of glory he felt certain was headed his way as he stopped 10 of his first 11 victims and promoter Eddie Hearn raved about Bellotti’s power.

That is why, to any young pro, he would advise: “Never believe the hype.”

Then, Bellotti added: “Don’t think that what people say about you is necessarily true, because that’s negative and positive. Before I got my first defeat, I was believing the hype, that I was the hardest-hitting fighter in the world in boxing and that I was untouchable, and then I found out that I wasn’t untouchable. You learn hard lessons from that and that’s positive and negative.”

We’ve heard the stories of how after that first loss the locker-room is empty; the phone stops ringing.

“Yes, that’s absolutely a true fact,” Bellotti explained. “You’ll see on videos when someone loses, their mum always texts them and the only person that texts them is your mum: ‘Are you okay?’ That’s true to what it is. It’s like people aren’t really that fussed. A couple of days down the line, you get a few come back and go, ‘Are you all right?’ ‘Just checking in’ and stuff. But that first loss, I went away with my wife and kids for two weeks, didn’t speak to nobody, because I had to get my head into the frame of mind: ‘Right, I’m no longer undefeated, I’m no longer what I thought I was.’ So I’ve got to change my mentality, change my whole self, because I surround myself with a lot of my mates, we all banter with each other, we’re always taking a piss and all that sort of stuff, so I knew when I got back, eventually, they’re going to break the ice with, ‘Ahhh, you got beat, you got beat.’ So I have to prepare myself for that, and I’m solid to that now, and anything around that sort of lifestyle, I’m good with.”

That is a sobering period and an equally sobering adjustment. To go from bulletproof to vulnerable is a huge step.

“Absolutely,” he said. “You basically have to go back to the drawing board and start again. Because to me, I was just so one-track minded and thinking that nothing else was needed. Then you got found out and you’ve got to improve and do more and have more strengths.”

Bellotti has strengthened his resolve, his mind and body. Now he gets to test it out swimming with “The Pirahana” in the waters of the south coast.