Former cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew explained his part in the post-fight scuffle that broke out in the aftermath of Anthony Joshua’s twelve round decision win over Jermaine Franklin.
On Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, a near brawl broke out between Joshua and Franklin in the immediate aftermath of the fight’s conclusion.
While Joshua and Franklin were being separated by security in the ring, Bellew nearly came to blows with Franklin’s trainer Lorenzo Reynolds outside the ring.
Bellew was ringside as part of DAZN’s broadcast team.
According to Bellew, the confrontation began after Franklin’s trainer appeared to go after Joshua in the post-fight scuffle.
“You can’t have a trainer going for a boxer. So I said, ‘Hey lad what are you playing at?’ And he’s said something and I’ve said, ‘F— it, let’s do it then. I’ll f——- meet you with a right hand.’ His mate apologized to me and I said ‘you can’t’. I didn’t want the trouble with him but I just said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he went, ‘What are you going to do?’ I said, ‘What the f—- are you going to do’. So I’ve stepped down like ‘Let’s go.’. I stepped aside so I thought he was going to step to me and a right hand was going to meet him,” Bellew explained to IFL TV.
“But he didn’t get close enough so what do you want me to do? I was just trying to tell the man that you can’t approach a fighter, so you can’t do that. It’s down to the fighters and if Jermaine and [Anthony] are having a little tussle.”
Event promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom spoke with Bellew about the incident.
“I asked [Bellew], I think he just said that [Franklin’s] trainer went for AJ or something. And he shouted something, and then he shouted something at Bellew. He’s probably the wrong person to shout something at,” Hearn said.