“It’s a very tough job being an analyst and a pundit,” Bellew said. “But the fact is, I know more because I’ve experienced it. Now, I don’t want to go down that at all ‘because I’ve done it, I know’ but when you’ve been there, seen it and done it and know what’s going on, it’s like, unless you’ve been in a boxing ring and you’ve fought, you can’t call a fighter a quitter. I’m sorry, you can’t. You just can’t, because you don’t know what he’s going through. You don’t know what’s going on. You can’t envision that. Now, I can come out and say that because I’ve been where he’s been. I’ve felt what he’s felt. And I know for a fact, he spewed it. I can categorically say he didn’t want to fight no more because I’ve been there and I’ve felt it and I’ve done it. So it’s things like that. But I’m careful and I hate using that word quitter because I don’t think any fighter’s really a quitter. I just think he’s reached his threshold and he can’t take no more. Does that mean he’s quit? No, because he goes back to gym next week and he goes again. The man who never quits is the man who never gets truly defeated. It’s hard. But I just try and say it just as I see it. I’m loyal. I’m loyal beyond belief. And I’ve got a lot of love for certain people in the game. People will say, ‘Yeah, I’m up Eddie Hearn’s arse.’ I’ve got a lot of love for Eddie because he’s my friend and I got on great with him. Didn’t always get on great, but we had a common ground and what we shook hands on, what we agreed, got dealt with and got done.
