“The big fat scouser will come through you like a steam train.”
Tony Bellew was not afraid of mocking his own physique in the run-up to his grudge match with David Haye last weekend.
Bellew has never been the most thickly muscled fighter and he gave up a lot of definition to Haye when the pair shared the scales on the eve of their London showdown.
A ripped Haye mocked ‘Bomber’ in the wake of their weigh-ins with the below comments.
“I’ve put on some good, healthy usable muscle. My diet is actually tighter now than it was at cruiserweight.
“Just look at him, he doesn’t look like an athlete. Nine out of 10 people in the street have a better physique than he does. He’s made heavyweight by eating a load of pies, I’ve made weight with methodical eating and training.”
Well Bellew wasn’t actually eating pies ahead of his heavyweight debut, which went swimmingly as he stopped Haye in the 11th round in the O2 Arena last Saturday night.
Bellew has since revealed the diet he implemented throughout his training camp and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for us.
“My diet basically consisted of four to five meals a day,” Bellew told Sky Sports.
Breakfast
“I would begin with a protein shake first thing. I’ve got a banana flavoured one at the minute, which I don’t really like, but I just down it. I’ve also got strawberry and vanilla.
“I don’t have to run at 5.30am any more on an empty belly to lose weight, so it will be around 8am. I’ll have that first protein shake then go to the gym, lift my weights, and do my strength work on a Monday morning.”
Brunch
“After the gym, I’ll have another protein shake, then head home for a bowl of fruit and nut with some honey on top at about 11am. I might have a coffee after that.”
Lunch
“If my missus is home, it will be poached eggs and salmon. Quite a large portion of that, then I will go to trainer David Coldwell’s gym for my workout.”
Dinner
“I’ll either have a Nando’s, which is basically chicken, sweet potato and corn, or my missus will give me a Tupperware box with a spiced-up breast of chicken, sweet potato, corn and spinach.
“I’ll have two boxes of them, within three hours of each other.”
Supper
“Just before I go to sleep, I’ll have one more protein shake.”
Bellew was a significant underdog for the main event of last weekend’s London card but he came good, weathered the early Haye storm and benefited from an unfortunate Achilles injury to his rival before earning the stoppage win late on.
The magic of Peri Peri, eh?
