Tony Bellew ‘definitely up’ for fighting Tyson Fury in heavyweight showdown after rematch with David Haye

Exclusive: Trainer Dave Coldwell has told The Independent that a fight with Fury is one of the few potential bouts to truly excite Bellew

Tony Bellew will fight David Haye in a heavyweight rematch on May 5 (Getty)

Tony Bellew is “definitely up” for fighting Tyson Fury in a heavyweight showdown after he has taken care of David Haye for a second time, his trainer David Coldwell has told The Independent.

On Tuesday, promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that the postponed rematch between Bellew and Haye will now take place on May 5.

“I now have a very clear plan for 2018 and that is to knock out David Haye and then knock out Tyson ‘Stavros Flatley’ Fury and end both their careers,” Bellew said upon Tuesday’s announcement of the rescheduled date.

“But first things first I need to rid the sport of David Haye on May 5 and I look forward to doing this in what I believe will be an explosive fight.”

And, speaking to The Independent, Coldwell said that a contest with Fury is one of the few potential fights to truly excite Bellew, who was the WBC cruiserweight world champion before he stepped up a weight class to take on Haye.

“The Tyson Fury fight is a fight that Tony Bellew would be absolutely up for,” Coldwell said.

“It’s a fight that he would be able to get his teeth into. Because – after becoming a world champion, boxing at Goodison Park, securing your family’s financial affairs and achieving all your dreams – where do you find that extra drive and motivation? You can’t carry on taking on fights that don’t excite you, you have to make sure there’s something there, and there certainly is with Fury.”

Fury would carry a significant weight and height advantage into a fight with Bellew, who began his career as a light-heavyweight before going on to become a cruiserweight world champion. And Coldwell conceded that Bellew would need a full training camp were he to take on the challenge.

“If you’re fighting Fury, you need the right amount of preparation,” he said. “You need to prepare fully for a guy that size, with that sort of style, who is comfortable boxing southpaw and orthodox. You need all of the preparation you can get for that sort of challenge. So with the right date and amount of time, that is a fight you would certainly look at.”

Coldwell added that a title shot against the WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, who is currently locked in negotiations with WBA and IBO title holder Anthony Joshua over a potential 2018 unification bout, would be a contest Bellew “would be absolutely up for”.

But for the time being Haye is at the forefront of Bellew’s mind, with Coldwell revealing that his fighter is eager to banish any lingering doubt that he got lucky in the first fight earlier this year.

Bellew is completely focused on Haye for now (Getty)

“Obviously he’s thinking about the rematch with Haye because he wants to put all of that to bed desperately,” Coldwell said. Bellew dramatically secured one of the biggest upsets in British boxing history when he stopped Haye in the 11th round of their fight at London’s O2 Arena, but Haye has since claimed he only lost because he ruptured his Achilles tendon halfway through the contest.

“There are still people on social media or whatever who are telling him that he got lucky. He wants to take care of that one and so Haye, Fury and Parker are very much the three fights that I think people would be happy to see.”

Coldwell also shed some further light on Bellew’s reaction to the news that Haye had suffered an injury in training, forcing the rematch to be postponed. The news came at a particularly difficult time for Bellew, who has been mourning the loss of his brother-in-law, who was tragically killed in September while on a family holiday in Cancun where he was celebrating a friend's wedding.

Fury could fight Bellew at some point in 2018 (Getty)

“I cannot truly explain how the news from Haye felt but it was absolutely sickening,” Coldwell said.

“Tony was training so professionally. He was coming in every morning and doing his job. Granted it wasn’t the same atmosphere as usual, because usually we train together and have a laugh. Instead he was deadly serious in preparing for this fight but he was training very hard.

“Perhaps in hindsight we will look back on this and think that maybe it was something of a blessing in disguise, because he had a lot going on. But he really was on it and looking very good and so when we first heard of Haye’s news it was really, really horrible.”

Tony Bellew’s trainer Dave Coldwell was speaking to Betsafe, for all the latest boxing odds visit Betsafe.com