By Ian S Palmer
British light heavyweight Tony Bellew will take on takes on Isaac Chilemba in Liverpool, England on Saturday March 30 for something called the WBC “silver” light heavyweight championship. The 30-year-old Bellew takes a record of 19-1 along with 12 Kos into the ring with him. While the 25-year-old Chilemba of South Africa is 20-1-1 with 9Kos.
Bellew’s only loss came to fellow Englishman Nathan Cleverly back in October 2011 when he dropped a majority decision. He’s won his last three fights since then. Bellew has good hand speed and likes to box aggressively and has decent power. Chilemba possesses a pretty good jab and is also aggressive, but sometimes a bit wild. His defence needs to be worked on and his power is just average.
Both Bellew and Chilemba have tasted the canvas a couple of times before in their careers, so their chins could come with a question mark attached to them. Anybody who makes a mistake could get punished for it. It’s likely that Bellew would prefer to box, while Chilemba is more likely to turn it into a brawl. However, he needs to make sure he doesn’t get caught with his hands down.
Chilemba’s loss came over five years ago and he fought to a draw with Thomas Oosthuizen in the super middleweight division over that time. However, he’s gone the distance nine times out of his past 10 bouts as he just doesn’t have much in the way of knockout power. It’s going to be tough to take a decision over at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, so he might need to stop Bellew or at least drop or hurt him.
The winner of this but could get a shot at WBC champion Chad Dawson and that should be enough to motivate them. They match up pretty well and Bellew needs to make a name for himself soon as he’s not really a young man any more in boxing terms. His biggest win so far has been a stoppage over Edison Miranda. His loss to Cleverly was a close one and he’s certainly one of the top light heavyweights in Britain at the moment.
Chilemba’s loss came in 2007 and he avenged it soon after in a rematch. His unbeaten streak has reached 13 fights, but he hasn’t really fought any household names with the likes of Maxim Vlasov, Michael Bolling, and Doudou Ngumbu. Chilemba has also beaten Miranda as he took him by a unanimous decision.
Prediction
Bellew hasn’t really shown a killer instinct in his career and he could be accused of being a bit too cautious. If he takes the cautious approach against Chilemba he could be outworked, so he’s going to have to stay aggressive. This could be an exciting bout with some fireworks on display. A knockdown or two wouldn’t be a surprise. The home crowd could spur Bellew on and may turn out to be the extra motivation he needs to win. Look for him to take the fight by a decision or late stoppage.
