When boxers aren’t actually fighting or training for a fight, they love nothing more than saying mean things about other boxers.
It’s just what they do.
So, when Tony Bellew was asked for his opinion on Chris Eubank Jr, it’s probably no great surprise to learn that he wasn’t all that complimentary.
"I have seen better belts sold in @Matalan!"
🥊 Not sure @TonyBellew is too impressed with @ChrisEubankJr's IBO title 👀 pic.twitter.com/bB6I4LKxvV
— Sky Bet (@SkyBet) March 23, 2017
“I’ve seen better fights sold in Matalan,” Bellew said, a reference to the IBO super-middleweight title Eubank Jr won after beating Renold Quinlan in February.
Obviously, Eubank Jr was never going to let such a comment slide. Responding to footage of Bellew’s comments on Twitter, he suggested that Liverpudlian had taken longer than expected to finish off an injured David Haye in their recent fight, throwing in the criminally underused hashtag ‘#couldntboxeggs’ for good measure.
😄 @SkyBet @TonyBellew dont get too brave mate it took u 6 rounds to beat a man with 1 leg. Davids injury made the fight even #CouldntBoxEggs
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) March 23, 2017
Bellew came back for more, pointing out that in beating Haye, he’d beaten a man who had been confident of knocking him out within the first two rounds. Not done there, he then made more or less the same comment about Eubank Jr’s belt as he’d done in the video above – only this time changing ‘Matalan’ to ‘NEXT’.
The same man who said he'd leave me asleep within 2 rounds and put me in hospital. As for your IBO? Next have got more prestigious belts 🙈😂 https://t.co/FUhre5PTMd
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) March 23, 2017
Something tells us this won’t be the last we hear of this one…
Catch up with this week’s episode of 888Sport Football Friday Live