Bellew vs. McIntosh Spearheads Massive Merseyside Weekend

Tony Bellew has promised Merseyside he will kick-off next week’s huge sporting weekend with victory against Danny McIntosh in ‘The Big Bang’ on Friday April 13 live on Sky Sports 1 and HD1 from the Echo Arena, Liverpool.

The Everton-mad British light heavyweight title champion defends his title against the former European champ, and will head down to Wembley the following day to watch his beloved Toffees take on city rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final at lunchtime, which is then followed by the Grand National at Aintree later in the afternoon.

Everton saw off Sunderland in a quarter-final replay to book the date with the red half of the city, and the ‘Bomber’ said that gave him an extra boost as he trains for the McIntosh clash.

“I wouldn't miss Wembley for the world,” said Bellew. “I'll get McIntosh out of the way whatever way it has to go then I'll be in the first car down there on Saturday. I've never been happier to be running at the crack of dawn as I was after the Sunderland win, it’s given me a huge boost ahead of a very big night in my career.

"It's great to be fighting on Sky Sports again and my performance will be seen by a lot of people. It's a big opportunity in the spotlight and an honour to kick-off a huge sporting weekend for Merseyside with the football and the Grand National.”

McIntosh is confident he can rip the title from Bellew in front of his own fans and spoil the party and Bellew is wary of the qualifications the Norwich man has as a former European champion.

The champ says that ideas of McIntosh using this fight to get to common foe Nathan Cleverly are wide of the mark though, with Bellew coming into the fight on the back of a narrow loss to the Welshman for his WBO title and McIntosh having fought him for the British and Commonwealth belts in July 2009.

“Danny's got good credentials – he's a former European champion and jokers don't win that belt,” said Bellew. “He's got to be respected and I'm certainly not taking him lightly, I know he can punch. But for him to talk about facing Cleverly again is just hype because he went in there and got bounced off the canvas like a yo-yo.

"He was down a few times and he didn't want to know – anyone who goes down and backflips off the floor in my eyes shouldn't be going down in the first place.

He needs to take the game and himself more seriously. But I am definitely taking him seriously, no danger there and I am fully prepared for 12 hard rounds and I cannot wait to be back in the ring, in front of a big crowd and live on Sky Sports.”