Fresh off his compelling knockout victory over the dangerous Ilunga Makabu, WBC World cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has taken to Sky Sports News to lay waste to David Haye's recent fights.
The former unified cruiserweight champ and Bellew have been trading verbal jabs in recent weeks, with Bellew seemingly insulted - along with the majority of the boxing public - by The Hayemaker's level of opposition since returning to the ring in January.
Speaking after his knockout of Makubu, Bellew snarled down the microphone that he wouldn't think twice about pummelling the man he described as "that bitch from Bermondsey." Haye responded the following day with a video of his own, shirtless, congratulating Bellew on his victory but vowing to destroy him after his nonsensical fight with Shannon Briggs this September.
Speaking with Katie Abdo on Sky Sports News, the new cruiserweight champ went off on one about Haye, repeating his claims from late last week that the 35-year-old heavyweight is fighting opponents who learned how to box on Youtube, and describing his comeback fights as 'freak shows'.
The thing is, bar the obvious exaggeration for dramatic effect, he's not wrong.
Bellew himself has long been considered a contentious character in the sport, having talked a great game but come up short in a couple of his biggest career tests. That went out the window on Saturday night with a stunning upset victory, and nobody could have begrudged him the world title had they witnessed the truly humble scenes captured by IFL TV en route back to the dressing room with the WBC belt slung over his shoulder.
As for a fight with Haye - it's not beyond the realms of possibility, with the only real stumbling block being Haye's current body size and weight. Frankly, it seems unlikely that, were the opportunity to arise to make a couple of million pounds to fight a smaller man early next year, Haye would turn it down.
