Tony Bellew may have retired in 2018, but his days of boxing certainly weren’t over.
Tony Bellew retired after a devastating knockout loss to Oleksandr Usyk in Manchester, and finished his career with a record of 30-3-1.
Bellew, who claims the referee saved him that night, holds wins over domestic rival David Haye, Ilunga Makabu and Nathan Cleverly.
Despite retiring after the loss, Bellew remained in the boxing world, but this time, in Hollywood.
Tony Bellew punched Michael B. Jordan in bid to continue Rocky legacy
Michael B. Jordan played a starring role in the Creed movies, a spin-off set in the same universe as the Rocky franchise starring Sylvester Stallone.
In the film, Bellew plays the heel, Ricky Conlan. Jordan spoke on The Graham Norton Show about his time filming with Bellew, and how he had to take a real punch from the Liverpudlian.
He said of the shot: “I was just hoping the producers didn’t run in and just say cut because they thought I was really hurt. I was definitely seeing stars , I was not all there.”
He continued: “But yeah I took a real punch, it felt like I was in a car accident for like four days after. Tony said he only went 40% it felt like 85%.”
The Creed films featured Benavidez and other well-known boxers
Bellew wasn’t the only boxer to feature in the Creed films, as David Benavidez‘ brother, Jose Benavidez Jr. also played a key role in the third film as Felix Chavez, a fighter managed by Jordan’s character, Creed.
Other fighters than feature in the film include Gabriel Rosado, who argued with Devin Haney, as a character Jordan’s character spars, as well as Andre Ward who plays Danny ‘The Stuntman’ Wheeler.
Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez also feature in cameos in the third film.