Tony Bellew’s mission after escaping ‘sad place’ boxing retirement left him in
His podcast may be titled ‘Tony Bellew is Angry’ but there is a quieter, more powerful side to the former WBC Cruiserweight champion.
Bellew oozed intensity and power when he was at his free flowing best. Every step planned meticulously. Every feint timed to perfection. Every punch, delivered unapologetically, with anger-fuelled thrust and terrifying power. Bellew dishes out his words the same way. He can still nail a gut punch, even from the other side of a Zoom call more than 186 miles away.
“I’m very fortunate I wear my heart on my sleeve, what you see is what you get,” Bellew told Daily Star Sport, while promoting the new series of his self-named podcast ‘Tony Bellew is Angry’. “There are very few men out there, like me, who are so brutally honest and say how they feel and what’s going on or what is annoying them.” If it is not already clear, Bellew is angry. His podcast is more of an introspection into the many coping mechanisms for anger.
READ MORE: Diehard Everton fan Tony Bellew 'petrified' of relegation and impact it'd have on Toffees
One conversation through a hazy and, at times, lagging zoom call is enough to see how Bellew achieved what he did. In 2016, he overcame a first round knockdown to knock out Ilunga Makabu at Goodison Park to win his first WBC Cruiserweight World Championship. He successfully retained his title three times, knocking out BJ Flores and overcoming David Haye by TKO in the 11th round and 5th round, before eventually losing his title to the imperious Oleksandr Usyk in 2018. He ended the evening by announcing his retirement from boxing.
His brave performance against the Ukrainian garnered even more praise from the boxing world. There is no doubt the Bomber retired as one of the finest British boxers to step into the squared circle. Nearly five years later, Bellew is back in the ring again. Not for a Ricky Hatton style return, but for his own mental well being.
“I always had this vision in my mind that when I retired from boxing, I was going to get fat and find another sport to play, I.e. Golf, and then just enjoy playing that,” Bellew laughed. “You’ve got to remember, I was fighting for 20 plus years. Then I wake up on a Sunday morning and I am not a boxer anymore. I am just a regular Joe Public and I’ve got no career and I’ve got no plan. I threw myself into different things, mainly golf, I am trying to get better at that.
“Then the thoughts I had at the time, ‘I’m going to enjoy getting fat, I’m going to enjoy doing this’, has made me realise that I’ve got a structure in my life that I do need to train for my mental health, I do need to get stuff done, I feel I always need to be winning.”
What is your favourite memory of Tony Bellew's legendary career? Let us know in the comments section below
This epiphany came to the 40-year-old soon after he hung up his gloves. He admitted initially enjoying the first year of retirement and the added freedoms. However, an unforgettably emotional journey on SAS Who Dares Wins, which saw him reach the final of the Channel 4 series, made him confront and understand the struggles he was enduring.
“I’m not someone who likes to claim depression,” Bellew stated. “People are saying they are depressed because they don’t earn enough money. Depression is when you are at the lowest of your lows. Depression is grief. That’s what real depression is. Losing someone at a young age and not being able to explain it.
“Depression is someone who cannot see any other way out. Depression should never be the result of money, it comes and it goes. People will say ’that’s easy for you to say because you have got money’. I didn’t always have money. I’ve had times when I’ve been broke and they were some of the happiest times of my life.
“I’ve had times where I’ve been struggling, I can’t pay the mortgage, I can’t pay the bills. I’ve broken a hand in a fight and I’ve been absolutely skint on January 2. People cannot tell me ‘oh he can say that because he has money’ – it is nothing to do with money.
“When I was on that show I was in a really bad place mentally. I was in a sad place, mate. It was a really tough point in my life and that show helped me get through it, helped me see things a lot clearer, and it made me realise what is important in life. I was the heaviest I’ve ever been. It was completely out of shape. I went on the show and I lost 17lbs in nine days, I went down two inches in my waist, everything just came off me.
“They beasted the life out of me which I enjoyed. I’ve always felt the need to punish my body and put myself through it. But, ultimately, it opened up certain things I was denying myself emotionally. Where I was, all I wanted to do at that stage of my life was help my missus.”
One year before his second victory over Haye, Bellew and his wife Rachael Roberts suffered a horrific tragedy. Bellew’s brother-in-law Ashley Roberts died after falling from a balcony during a family holiday in Mexico. After Bellew overcame Haye in the fifth round at the 02 Arena, the Liverpudlian burst into tears in what were very emotional scenes in the ring.
“I’m still struggling all the time,” Bellew said while reflecting on the tragedy. “My wife and my family struggle with the death of my brother. It’s something we have had to navigate through and find our way through. They were dark times and they were really sad times. It was at that point I knew I had to do something.”
Nowadays, Bellew is always busy. He is an analyst for The Zone and a regular contributor for the likes of TalkSPORT and others. The former champion even described himself as an Uber driver for his kids who play football and rugby. However, the proud Liverpudlian is currently in the middle of his next mission.
“I have a massive, massive thing called Weapons Down Gloves Up, where I am trying to help kids get into full-time employment,” Bellew said proudly. “We have 168 in full-time employment so far. We have a 93% success rate of those who are still in work after 12 months. So all of these different things I am trying to manage them and balance them. But every time I get something done, I feel like I won.
“I think that’s the problem amongst men, it’s when we feel like we’ve stopped winning, they feel like they’ve lost the will to live. I understand there are good times and bad times. There are good times around the corner but there are always bad times around the corner.
“At the highest heights I have been at, being the champion of the world and beating a former heavyweight champion of the world, I have never let my mindset get really up there and believe the hype. But at the lowest point of the low, like the Usyk fight and the Stevenson fight, I have never been too down on myself and thought it was over.
“I have always tried to remain in the middle. If you stay up here, you will always come back down with a crash and it’s going to be bad. If you stay down there all the time, you will just be sad. You have to find that middle ground somewhere.
“I believe that is the key to life, remaining in that middle ground. I find a way to do that, whether it’s through podcasts, whether it’s through sport, whether it is doing my job and work, I keep in that middle ground.”
The middle ground is where Bellew is at his very best. He knows those struggles are always lurking. He knows things will not always be easy. But he knows where to position himself – the middle ground.
You can listen to the new series of Tony Bellew is Angry on BBC Sounds
READ NEXT:
Floyd Mayweather's UK boxing debut 'off' as star pulls out six hours after announcement
'Homophobic' and cheating slurs mar Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith face-off as Sky 'sorry'
Liam Smith working with Phil Foden's speed coach to make him sharper vs Chris Eubank Jr
Source: Read Full Article