Tony Bellew reacted when Oleksandr Usyk brought up knockout at press conference to prove a point about heavyweight power

Tony Bellew did not appear best pleased when Oleksandr Usyk brought up the finish of their fight during the presser before his clash with Derek Chisora in 2020.

The Ukrainian great conquered the cruiserweight division and then moved up to heavyweight to dethrone Anthony Joshua – with their rematch set for Saturday night, live on talkSPORT.

Usyk flattened Bellew with a single punch after slowing him down with effective pressureBack in 2018, Usyk finished his cruiserweight career by defending his undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles against Bellew in Manchester.

Despite the ‘Bomber’ giving him problems early on, Usyk eventually took control and won with a brutal eighth-round KO.

However, many appeared to forget this moment during the build-up to Usyk’s fight with Chisora last year.

Chisora’s manager David Haye particularly made a point of it during the build-up.

As a result, promoter Eddie Hearn asked the question during the fight week press conference.

Hearn told Usyk: “David Haye said you don’t have the power at heavyweight.

“Do you believe that you can stop Dereck Chisora on Saturday night and end this fight inside the distance?”

Usyk responded through his translator: “Ask Tony Bellew.”

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The reason why he said this is because Bellew was sat in the room, watching on.

However, the look on his face suggested he wasn’t ecstatic to have been brought into the discussion.

Bellew later told iFL TV about the comment: “It doesn’t aggravate me, it’s fact.

“Can’t deny it, can I? The whole world’s seen it. He starched me, for six seconds, then I was back up.”