Tony Bellew believes Jake Paul is not fit to 'carry his jockstrap' - but revealed he bumped into the YouTuber at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
The former world champion, who has not fought since his loss to Oleksandr Usyk back in November 2018, claimed he would never 'get in a boxing ring' with him in an outspoken radio interview.
Bellew, 39, also spoke about how he crossed paths with Paul after Katie Taylor's win over Amanda Serrano where the pair showed their respect for each other.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “He couldn’t carry my jockstrap, never mind get in a boxing ring with me! There’s just not a chance in this world.
“You know what? I’m going to give him his due. I was coming down the stairs after work [on Saturday], and as I’ve done that, he’s come across me.
“He just stepped up to me and went, ‘I respect you’. He put his fist out and we touched fists.
“I thought, ‘I can have that, sound, not a problem mate’. I was dead on edge because I try to stay away from trouble, I don’t want any problems.
“If you’ve got a problem, then no problem, I’ll see to it. But he didn’t, it was nice of him to do that.
Tony Bellew retired from boxing in November 2018
“I only wish him good. Good luck to him. If he keeps fighting non-boxers in a boxing environment, that’s up to him. Let him keep doing what he’s doing.”
Bellew also admitted that Paul does have his benefits adding: “I’ve forgotten more than he knows so when it comes to talking about boxing…
“To be fair, he brought something to the table. He’s brought Serrano’s name to light.
“He’s made her relevant and massively known, but that’s where his achievements end – with Serrano.
“When it comes to boxing, you can throw 1000 punches, all landing, then take one which knocks you out. It’s irrelevant what stats say.
Jake Paul and Tony Bellew have called each other out multiple times in the past
“Taylor landed a really good amount of shots, Serrano throws a lot of punches but not all of them land.
“That showed, especially in the last few rounds, when Katie created that distance. She was just fantastic. She took away Serrano’s dangerous punch.
“It was just a brilliant fight, nothing should be taken away from it. If Serrano won, nobody could’ve complained. It was just really hard to score.
“I said before, it was going to be one of the hardest scoring fights you’ll ever have in your life. Styles make fights and this was always going to be a really hard-fought fight.”
It comes after Paul admitted that he did not know who Bellew was during a conversation with Eddie Hearn.
Paul asked: "Who is he?", before Hearn told him that Bellew is a former world champion who also starred as Ricky Conlan in the 2015 film Creed.
He replied: "That's his claim to fame? He was in Creed?
"He was in Creed, he was in the back, the janitor in the background.
"I think I've heard that name, I couldn't put a face to it, though.
"I know who Usyk is, I wasn't asked about Usyk, I was asked about Bellew."
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