Former Essendon ruckman Tom Bellchambers cannot believe he will be fighting in front of Tyson Fury in his professional debut on Wednesday night.
The 202cm-tall Bellchambers enjoyed being labelled the “uglier version” of Fury when the world heavyweight champion spoke to the media ahead of close friend Joseph Parker’s bout with Faiga “Django” Opelu.
Bellchambers will fight former Geelong forward Cameron Mooney over three rounds on the undercard of the bout, with the Englishman Fury approving the inclusion of the cross-sport fight.
“A lot of boxers don’t like other people coming into the game, but for me, it’s like bring as many eyes to boxing as possible,” Fury said.
“I’m expecting some fireworks. I’ve seen a lot of this, people coming from different sports, different things lately – YouTube boxing … all these different sports players come to boxing.
“I’m looking forward to it. They’re both big lads. He’s (Bellchambers) almost as big as me but more uglier. And this guy (Mooney) looks like he’s got two big biceps on him, so hopefully he gets stuck right in.”
Bellchambers said he was stunned to be up on stage with Fury ahead of the bout at Margaret Court Arena.
“That’s probably more exciting than anything, to be able to fight in front of Tyson Fury and sit up at a press conference with him,” he said.
“If you had’ve asked me that probably a month ago I would’ve laughed at you, so it’s funny how things work out.”
“(Fury said I’m) just an uglier version. I’ll still take that – I’ve been trying to channel my inner Gypsy King over the last three weeks since I got the comparison.
“I’ve been watching a lot of his vision, trying to see what he does in the ring. I’m looking forward to Wednesday night.”
Mooney said he was feeling “really good” ahead of the fight, and had been preparing for Bellchambers’ 5cm height advantage by working with taller boxers in recent weeks.
“I’m feeling really good, actually; as good as you can be for a guy who’s 43 and not professional, but training has been great … sparring has been a lot of fun,” Mooney said.
“I’ve brought in a lot of bigger guys obviously because Tommy’s got me covered on the height and size, so I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks just sparring the bigger guys.”
Fury kept things simple when asked if he had any advice for the former footballers in their first professional bout.
“I want to see some action. I don’t want to see two fairies in there; I want to see two heavyweights knocking lumps out of each other,” he said.
“Get straight forward on the front foot, swing away until one man falls over.”