It’s a historic night in British boxing history this Saturday. For the first time in history, Great Britain hosts a four-belt undisputed fight for all of the marbles in the cruiserweight division.

With the Ring Magazine title also on the line, Oleksandr Usyk vs Tony Bellew ticks all the boxes for a main attraction in the sport; despite this, Tony Bellew is under no illusions of the task ahead of him.

The ‘Bomber’s’ last two outings were against the faded David Haye. Stopping the ‘Hayemaker’ twice at heavyweight, Bellew is making the jump back down to the 200lbs division. Looking to reclaim the WBC title he vacated after beating Makabu in 2016, Bellew would add the WBA, IBF and WBO titles – as well as the Ring belt – to the green and gold strap, becoming Britain’s first ever four-belt champion.

The mountain to climb is huge. Usyk (15-0) – an unbeaten Ukrainian, and former Olympic champion – is travelling to Manchester looking to defend the gold he picked up in the inaugural World Boxing Super Series tournament. After beating Huck, Briedis and Gassiev on the way to claiming the Muhammad Ali trophy, the 31-year-old is no stranger to life on the road, having boxed and won in Russia, Latvia, Germany, USA and Poland all against home favourites.

The gulf in price between the two to get a victory on Saturday is fairly representative of the state of play. Bellew has a number of obstacles in front of him. Firstly, coming back down to cruiserweight will have been a hard slog in the final camp of Bellew’s career. Showing his power at heavyweight enabled the Liverpudlian to record victories against Haye, however, the lure of Usyk’s belts was too strong to consider bringing the Ukrainian up in weight.

Usyk’s technical ability is another hurdle Bellew will have to leap. Nicknamed the ‘Cat’, Usyk moves around the ring like a featherweight, showing lightness on his feet and a snappy jab able to control the pace of any fight. Bellew will be reliant on his one-punch power to breach the guard of the challenger, however, many have tried and failed in the past – notably the hard-hitting Gassiev.

Bellew’s left hook will be his biggest chance of landing an upset on Saturday night. Capable of wobbling the toughest of chins inside the squared circle, Bellew will have to throw the shot sparingly throughout the early rounds to avoid Usyk easily telegraphing it.

Oleksandr Usyk to beat Tony Bellew by decision or technical decision @ 15/8 (BetVictor)
Oleksandr Usyk to beat Tony Bellew by unanimous decision @ 3/1 (BetVictor)

At 1/6, Usyk’s price isn’t tempting enough to back him in the outright market, however, a win on the scorecards enables us to squeeze some value out. Bellew’s heart is huge, and with Usyk’s power questionable in the latter rounds, a fifth points win in his last seven fights is highly likely in Manchester.

15/8 can be found for any win on the cards, with 3/1 the price for a unanimous decision; both should be looked at closely. The concern is that Bellew will throw everything at Usyk in the late stages of the fight knowing that he is about to lose on the cards. Whether Usyk would pick off the ‘Bomber’ in this instance forcing a stoppage is a concern, but not enough of a concern to avoid backing these two selections.