Bellew fails to impress against Kulikauskis

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Tony BellewCruiserweight contender Tony Bellew defeated journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis by fifth-round stoppage on Saturday at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.

The fight was as dull as they come. Both fighters took the fight on short notice. Bellew took the fight within 10 days of the bout and according to Sky Sports, Kulikauskis had even less time.

The first round was a tentative one. Bellew landed the best punch of the round, which was a straight right hand straight through the guard. However, Kulikauskis was also making him miss badly and landed a quick left hook to the body that didn’t seem to bother Bellew.

If the second round wasn’t an embarrassment, I don’t know what is. Despite entering the ring with a record of 16-26-5, Kulikauskis got the better of Bellew, landing sharp counter punches, a couple flurries, and blocked shots effectively.

Kulikauskis was elusive. It was a sad display as Bellew couldn’t really muster anything on offense. Kulikauskis tagged Bellew with straight left hands to the body as well as short right crosses to the head.

Although Bellew was clearly looking foolish, Sky Sports made it seem that Bellew was “pounding” his adversary.

The fourth round saw Bellew pick up the pace and finally force Kulikauskis to get out of his comfort zone. He trapped the Latvian on the ropes ripping left hooks to the body.

At one point, their heads clashed in the corner. When Kulikauskis stopped to apologize, Bellew popped him instead with a big right hand.

Some may see it as a cheap shot, but you have to protect yourself at all times, and seeing Bellew hadn’t done much in the early rounds, it’s understandable why he took advantage.

In the fifth round, a tired Kulikauskis floated around the ring as Bellew began to walk him down. However, he was still tagging Bellew with right-hand counters, albeit with not much snap.

Bellew’s left hand snapped Kulikauskis’s head back on one exchange, but Kulikauskis was still hanging in there and was never in any trouble.

Though Bellew was applying constant pressure, he wasn’t landing a majority of his punches.

He managed to land one left hand that sent Kulikauskis to the ropes, and the referee deemed that was enough to stop the fight.

Bellew improved to 25-2 with 16 knockouts while Kulikauskis dropped to 16-27-5.

This was an unstimulating, sad performance from Bellew, who shouldn’t earn anything close to a world title shot after this performance.