38-year-old Anthony Lewis Bellew was born on 30 November 1982 and is an English former professional boxer.
He competed in the field of boxing from 2007 to 2018.
From 2016 to 2017, he held the WBC cruiserweight title. He went on to challenge for the undisputed cruiserweight championship in his final fight.
He also held British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles between 2010 and 2014 at a regional level.
As an amateur, he is a three-time ABA heavyweight champion, and from 2015 to 2016, he held the European cruiserweight title.
In the 2015 Rocky film Creed (directed by Ryan Coogler), he portrayed the antagonist boxer, Ricky Conlan.
Anthony is 6 ft 3 in tall and he weighs 74 kgs.
Early life and amateur career
Anthony was born in Toxteth, an inner-city area of Liverpool on 30 November 1982.
He is the son of a black mother and white father. While he was born in Toxteth (Mulgrave Street), he moved to Wavertree (Smithdown Road).
Anthony knocked out every man he faced and went on to claim both the 2002 and 2003 novice ABA titles (except defeating Rob Hough from Paramount ABC).
At the time, he was fighting out of Liverpool’s Rotunda ABC.
He paced up to the 91 kg heavyweight division and won more titles after he was eligible for the Senior championships.
Professional career
His professional boxing debut was against Jamie Ambler.
Anthony knocked him out and won the match in the second round on 6 October 2007.
His next fight was against Adam Wilcox in the same year and he won this fight at the Millennium Stadium (in Cardiff and Wayne Brooks).
He managed to take his record up to 8–0 after he defeated Hastings Rasani, Phil Goodwin, Jevgēņijs Andrejevs, Ayitey Powers, and Paul Bonson in 2008.
He stepped up his record to an unbeaten 12–0 by defeating Martial Bella Oleme, Jindrich Velecky, Nick Okoth, and Matthew Ellis in 2009.
Commonwealth champion
At the Echo Arena in Liverpool, Anthony was challenged for the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight title.
He won the fight against Atoli Moore on 12 March 2010.
On 24 September 2010, Anthony had to recover from a flash knockdown during a fight against Bob Ajisafe at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
He made his first defense of the title by defeating Bob.
On 9 December 2010, he defended his title yet again by defeating Ovill McKenzie (former Commonwealth champion).
During the fight, he suffered two knockdowns in the first and second rounds; but in the eighth round, he won the fight.
He made his third defense of his Commonwealth title on 16 July 2011 by repeating the victory over Ovill McKenzie, and this time both of the fighters gave their best to the twelfth round.
Anthony vs. Chilemba I, II
For the WBC Silver title, Anthony defeated Roberto Bolonti on 17 November 2012.
In this fight, he was cut badly but managed to take the fight to the twelfth round. He won with a unanimous decision.
In a title eliminator, he fought Isaac Chilemba on 30 March 2013.
However, the fight was scored by judges leading to a controversial draw. After some time, Chilemba requested a rematch and Anthony won the fight via Unanimous Decision (UD).
Cruiserweight
On 15 March 2014, at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, celebrating his first fight as a cruiserweight against Valery Brudov at the vacant WBO International cruiserweight title, Anthony won the fight with a twelve-round knockout (KO).
On 12 July 2014, he fought against Julio Cesar Dos Santos to defend the title. Anthony landed a punch to his left jaw and he won via fifth-round TKO.
For the vacant European cruiserweight title, Anthony would fight Mateusz Masternak (highly ranked contender and former world title challenger) on 12 December 2015.
This was announced by Sky Sports on 29 November 2015 at the O2 Arena in London.
During the fight, Anthony produced a solid performance and took the fight to the twelfth round, and won via UD (Unanimous Decision).
He also earned £80,000 for the fight and he has captured the European title two times since.
After the win against Chilemba, Anthony was made mandatory challenger for the WBC light-heavyweight title, and now he faced against Adonis Stevenson.
As the fight began, Adonis knocked Anthony down in the sixth round with a left-hand punch.
Via technical knockout, Adonis is the only boxer to stop Anthony from winning the fight.
On 15 October 2011 in Liverpool, for the WBO light-heavyweight title, it was announced that Anthony would fight Nathan Cleverly.
However, Anthony lost the fight via MD (majority decision).
Anthony was unhappy after losing to Cleverly.
He then fought for the vacant British light-heavyweight title against Danny McIntosh and won the fight in the fifth round.
Personal life
Anthony is an enthusiastic fan and supporter of Everton F.C, his hometown football team.
He also enters the ring with the same song (theme from Z-Cars) to which the team enters the ground at their home ground.
Tony got married to Rachel Roberts in the summer of 2018. Tony has been addressing her as his wife since 2014.
The couple has two children together.
Tony and Rachel are both from Liverpool and also are childhood friends (known each other since they were 9).
Controversy
Anthony had to face a lot of criticism when he made a controversial comment about Deontay Wilder by calling him the worst heavyweight champion in history.
Anthony has also expressed his opinion about his anger management. He mentioned to the media that he needs to work on his anger or it can land him in jail.
Anthony shared this after his retirement from boxing in 2018.
| Name | Anthony Lewis Bellew |
| Born | 30 November 1982 |
| Age | 38 |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Weight | 74 kgs |
| Nickname | Bomber |
| Total fights | 34 |
| Wins | 30 |
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