A lot was made of Tony Bellew’s weight ahead of his fight against David Haye.

The Liverpudlian had to make the step up from cruiserweight to heavyweight, meaning he had to pile on the pounds before the clash.

To do so, David Haye claims that Bellew just ‘ate pies’ during the weigh-in.

“I put on some good healthy, usable muscle, he’s just eaten some pies,” he said.

“He doesn’t look like an athlete. You can drag anybody from the audience and he’ll look like him. He’s not a professional athlete. He doesn’t look after himself.”

But Haye was left eating his own words - excuse the pun - as his corner threw in the towel in the 11th round handing Bellew victory.

Haye weighed 16st 9oz ahead of the fight but couldn’t deal with his 15st 3lbs 8oz opponents after suffering an Achilles injury in the sixth round.

But what exactly did Bellew eat to make the jump from cruiserweight to heavyweight? Well, he’s revealed exactly what he consumed in the build-up to his victory at the O2 Arena - and it certainly wasn’t pies.

Bellew's diet

"I tried to get as close to cruiserweight as I could, without deteriorating my body. My diet basically consisted of four to five meals a day,” Bellew explained to Sky Sports.

"I would begin with a protein shake first thing. I've got a banana flavoured one at the minute, which I don't really like, but I just down it. I've also got strawberry and vanilla.

"I don't have to run at 5.30am any more on an empty belly to lose weight, so it will be around 8am. I'll have that first protein shake then go to the gym, lift my weights, and do my strength work on a Monday morning.

"After the gym, I'll have another protein shake, then head home for a bowl of fruit and nut with some honey on top at about 11am. I might have a coffee after that."

But what about for lunch?

"If my missus is home, it will be poached eggs and salmon. Quite a large portion of that, then I will go to trainer David Coldwell's gym for my workout,” he said.

And for dinner?

"I'll either have a Nando's, which is basically chicken, sweet potato and corn, or my missus will give me a Tupperware box with a spiced-up breast of chicken, sweet potato, corn and spinach," he added.

"I'll have two boxes of them, within three hours of each other.

"Just before I go to sleep, I'll have one more protein shake."

To us, that sounds like a relatively healthy diet.

But, despite his regimented diet, Bellew insists that it didn't really matter what he ate as he achieved victory because of the work he did in the gym, rather than what he consumed.

"I don't care what food you eat, it comes down to how hard you work in the gym," he claimed. "No-one works as hard as me, I really do believe that. Well, no-one at my weight works as hard as me!"