Oleksandr Usyk v Tony Bellew Boxing Winner Odds & Predictions

Bellew in tough return to Cruiserweight

Sports Betting

Oleksandr Usyk v Tony Bellew Preview – 10th, November 2018

Tony Bellew is going to be hanging up his gloves soon, but the 35-year-old will step out on the weekend on his return to Cruiserweight to take on Oleksandr Usyk.

Oleksandr Usyk v Tony Bellew Odds*

Oleksandr Usyk 1/7
Tony Bellew 9/2
Draw 33/1
* (betting odds taken on November 8th, 2018 at 6:22 pm)

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Cruiserweight Kings

Bellew was last seen in duelling with David Haye in his rematch between the two rivals, back in May. The result was the same as it was in the first match, a knockout success for Bellew. A success against the odds as well having stepped up a weight division.

That left him with a career record of W30 L2, his last defeat coming against Adonis Stevenson back in November 2013. Since then he picked up the WBC Cruiserweight title against Ilunga Makabu back in May 2016 which he successfully retained against BJ Flores a few months later. This time everything is on the line.

Bellew Underdog

The fight will be for the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, The Ring and lineal cruiserweight titles. Bellew really was the king of the Cruiserweight division before he stepped it up to heavyweight to silence Haye. Since his time up in that division is has been Usyk who has ruled supreme. Bellew goes as a massive 9/2 underdog for the bout* (betting odds taken on November 8th, 2018 at 2:06 pm) on his return to his favoured division.

He was the underdog for those bouts against Haye and it is that grit that he has which will have his supporters believing again that he can pull something special out of the bag. He is a danger because of his scrappiness and ability to perform with that underdog status on his back. He is facing a beast here though. He has to try and disrupt, be as unorthodox as possible and just come out fast. The more he allows Usyk to settle into the fight, the less of a chance Bomber is going to have to get the win.

The Ukranian Beast

Usyk is something special and he has been the reigning undisputed cruiserweight champion since July 2018 and he is the first fighter in the history to hold all four WBO, WBC, WBA (Super) and IBF Cruiserweight tiles at once. It was a win over Murat Gassiev back in July in Moscow that gave him this unprecedented status. The Cat has a perfect W15 L0 record for his career and eleven of those fighters have been stoppages as well.

This is a fighter who controls fights. He will dictate the pace and the distance of the fight because appears to have an uncanny ability to read his opponent perfectly. He is quick on his feet and there probably hasn’t been a better combination puncher in this division ever, than the Ukrainian. He won’t be afraid to expose himself a little on the inside either because his counter attack is supreme. He is not going to be hit easily.

Prediction

Bellew upset the books when he pulled off those heavyweight victories over Haye, fights which were fueled by fury and angst. There is a great respect between these two which is nice to see and in Bellew, you get a fighter who is just brave. But it’s hard to see him getting the victory from such a big underdog position in this one. Usyk in Round 1-6 looks a solid option at 21/10 odds* (betting odds taken on November 8th, 2018 at 2:06 pm).