Tony Bellew has admitted that he would "love" to fight Tyson Fury in the near future.
Bellew is on the lookout for a new challenge after emphatically stopping David Haye in five rounds last night to make it two wins from two fights against the former two-weight world champion.
The 35-year-old admitted that he does not know the identity of his next opponent, but earmarked potential fights against former WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Fury or unbeaten pound-for-pound king Andre Ward, the latter of which would likely be at cruiserweight.
"Ward thinks he can beat me easily. I will knock him out. You lot will laugh but I will beat Andre Ward. I have a different set of skills to what he has seen before," Bellew is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
"I have all the respect in the world for him but he has never faced a fighter who can match him up close, fighting on the inside. He is Bernard Hopkins, just 20 years younger, but there are ways to beat him. I'll beat him but he'd go down as a far greater fight than me.
"I'd love Tyson Fury. I'd love to knock him out. Timing is everything in this sport. I'm not saying I would have beaten him in Dusseldorf when he beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Fury isn't a big puncher like Anthony Joshua or Haye. He's big, elusive and fast for a heavyweight. It's a fight I like."
Bellew has now won 30 of 33 fights during his career.
Barney Corkhill
