Cruiserweight king Tony Bellew is spearheading a revival in Liverpool boxing

The 34-year-old shocked the world with his victory over David Haye in March

Bellew says he reached Everest by winning a world title at Goodison Park

He says not even a win over Andre Ward would top his achievement that night

He fights to ensure his kids don't have to — but fears he has lost that battle

Tony Bellew is sitting in a golf buggy on Southport Beach discussing quad bikes.

He is barely two dozen miles from the streets of Merseyside where he grew up. But the life he describes is a world away from the one he once knew.

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Boxing is a sport that requires its competitors to take the greatest of risks. But for those willing to plunge to the necessary depths, it's one that can bring the biggest rewards.

Tony 'Bomber' Bellew has risen the ranks to become one of the biggest names in British boxing

The Liverpool fighter pocketed £2.8million from his victory over domestic rival David Haye

Bellew claims his success in the ring has given his children 'a life I could only have dreamed of'

Bellew’s last fight – an 11th round stoppage of David Haye in March – saw him pocket £2.8million.

For a boy from Wavertree in south Liverpool, 10oz gloves have proved the key to unlocking previously unimaginable luxuries. Now it is his mission to ensure that the fruits of his labour benefit those who matter most.

‘I have given my kids a life I could only have dreamed of,’ he tells Sportsmail.

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‘They have everything you could imagine - quad bikes for toys. They’re nine, 12, and four and they have vehicles, do you know what I mean? It’s nuts, mate.

‘They have the best computer games, they go on the best holidays, they wear the best clothes. They have a great head-start in life… I’m a kid from the south of Liverpool (where) it’s tough.’

Bellew is merely a product of his environment - the latest fighter off the conveyor belt in an area with a long and proud history in the fight game. And it’s a city, thanks to the likes of Callum Smith, Anthony Fowler, and Natasha Jonas, that could soon become the epicentre of British boxing.

Liverpool has bred a host of exciting fighters such as Robbie Davies Jr and Callum Smith (L)

Natasha Jonas (l) is also flying the flag for a city with a long and proud history in the fight game

'Bomber' claims it is the deprivation in Liverpool that helps produce so many good fighters

TONY BELLEW Age: 34 Nickname: Bomber Fights: 32 Wins: 29 (19 KOs) Losses: 2 Draws: 1 Height/reach: 6ft 3ins/74ins World titles won: WBC cruiserweight

For a student of the game and a proud Scouser, Bellew is enjoying spearheading an exciting era of boxing in Liverpool. But the lingering socio-economic issues that helped spawn the recent revival make it bittersweet.

‘There are a lot of deprived areas in Liverpool that need help and need looking at. And in deprived areas you get tough people. And tough people result in being good fighters,’ he says.

It’s not just in the ring that Liverpool is thriving. The Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale later this month, while the area’s two football clubs are making supporters dream once more.

Liverpool are hardly recreating the heady days of the 1970s and 1980s under Jurgen Klopp. But they are at least on the brink of a return to the Champions League, while Ronald Koeman’s Everton are setting the pace in this summer’s transfer market.

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The city, too, has had a facelift. Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture in 2008 and its centre is thriving following years of neglect and under-investment.

‘Liverpool is a different place now to when I was growing up here,’ ‘Bomber’ claims. But as he and a short drive to the city’s suburbs will tell you, the transformation only reaches so far.

‘The good points are the city is as multicultural as ever and Scousers are very loving people. The downside is gun crime is out of control and the drugs are spiralling out of control,’ he says.

The former cruiserweight world champion was speaking with Sportsmail's Daniel Matthews

He was helping mark the return of the Open Championship to Merseyside later this month

Bellew is a proud son of Liverpool, a city currently thriving in the ring and in many other fields

FLOYD MAYWEATHER V CONOR MCGREGOR - IS IT BAD FOR BOXING? 'It’s put boxing on the front pages of every tabloid in the world. So do I think it’s bad? No I think it’s absolutely fantastic. '(But) let’s just say Conor McGregor hits Floyd Mayweather clean with the hardest shot he’s got, are you trying to tell me McGregor is a bigger puncher than a prime Miguel Cotto, a prime Diego Corrales, a prime Jose Castillo, a prime Ricky Hatton, a prime Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya? The list just goes on. Are you telling me Conor McGregor technically punches better than all those fighters I’ve named? The answer’s no, mate, not in a million years. But I’m not naive enough to think if this was in a cage it would be over in about 20 seconds and Floyd would be screaming, tapping the floor so hard you’d think he was tap dancing.'

‘We have a very good police force in Liverpool but the youth need help for tomorrow, they really do. The youth centres are closing, there are so many things that aren’t going on that need to go on.'

Last month alone the city saw 11 shootings – one fatal – as the authorities struggle to curb the gang violence plaguing communities, while in 2014/15 Liverpool had the highest rate of drug-related hospital admissions in the country.

The problems are complex and deep-rooted. But could boxing be an avenue for positive change?

‘I believe it is,' 'Bomber' says. 'It saved my life. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for boxing. If it wasn’t for Jimmy Albertina (his former trainer) and Rotunda ABC, I have no idea where my life would have gone, I really, really don’t.’

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Thanks to years of sacrifice and suffering, it’s a scenario that is now purely hypothetical for the 34-year-old.

‘My life has been boxing since I left school and I have had to subsidise that life of boxing through working (and) doing some things that I’m not too happy about.

‘I’ve had jobs at pillar factories, I've been a lifeguard, worked on nightclub doors, done some crazy stuff to subsidise boxing all because I believed the dream, all because I believed I would get there in the end.’

Eventually, around 24 years on from taking up kickboxing to channel his fighting spirit, he reached 'the top of the mountain'.

Bellew says he 'reached Everest' when he stopped Ilunka Makabu to become world champion

'Bomber' rose from the canvas having been floored by the hard-hitting southpaw at Goodison

At the home of his beloved Everton last May, Bellew unleashed a ferocious and unanswerable barrage of punches to stop one of the most dangerous cruiserweights in the world, Ilunga Makabu, and capture the WBC world cruiserweight title.

Ten months later ‘Bomber’ moved up to heavyweight for the first time and added the biggest name to his record with victory over an injured Haye at the O2 Arena.

Few had given him more than a puncher’s chance.

Haye, a former world heavyweight champion and one of the finest cruiserweights this country has ever produced, was expected to make short work of the brave but ultimately over-matched Liverpool fighter.

The 34-year-old unleashed a ferocious onslaught to achieve his dream at the home of Everton

Bellew told anyone that would listen that Haye’s body, tired after years of gruelling fights and scarred by a life of luxury outside the ring, would give up on him. The ‘Hayemaker’, meanwhile, spent the months of build-up making ever-more graphic and sinister threats. At the first pre-fight press conference, Haye claimed he could go clubbing every night and still knock Bellew out. By fight week, the Londoner was telling ‘Bomber’ he would end the night in hospital.

In the wake of the Londoner's comments, Bellew sent his children away on holiday and even wrote a will ahead of the fight. So what was going through his mind in the moments before he left his dressing room?

'How far I’m willing to go,' Bellew says, 'I’ll go all the way, I can’t give in. I’m never, ever going to back down, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how painful it gets, I’m never going to back down.

'It’s frightening, I’m not going to lie,' he admits. 'I frighten myself because I never know when I'm going to be called upon to go as far as I say I’ll go.'

After all the pre-fight talking had stopped and the opening bell rang, only one man was proved right. ‘Everything I said, happened,’ Bellew recalls. After failing to get rid of his opponent early, Haye ruptured his achilles in the sixth round. Barely able to walk - let alone box - the London fighter clung on until the eleventh when he was knocked from the ring and his corner decided they had seen enough.

At the end of a fight marred by bad blood, the two men put aside their animosity and hugged.

The 'Hayemaker' warned his Liverpudlian opponent that he would end fight night in hospital

TONY BELLEW'S 'PERFECT BOXER' - Sportsmail asked 'Bomber', a self-confessed student of boxing, to build his ultimate fighter. Here was his verdict: • Jab - Larry Holmes • Chin - Oliver McCall • Power - Mike Tyson • Heart - Arturo Gatti/Nigel Benn • Footwork - Sugar Ray Robinson • Defence - Pernell Whitaker • Uppercut - Mike Tyson • Left Hook - Archie Moore/Joe Louis • Straight right - George Foreman

For some, it was another example of the power of boxing to foster new-found respect among even its most hostile competitors. For others, it was merely confirmation that their pre-fight feud was fabricated, little more than clever marketing on the part of both boxers.

For Bellew, however, the post-fight goodwill was borne out of purely private motivations. And something he wishes never happened.

'I’m still disgusted by his comments and I regret embracing him at the end,' he says.

‘But I embraced him because, you have to remember, this man had just helped secure my children’s future. And that’s the first thing that went through my mind after I beat him.

‘I didn’t think about what he’d said or what he’d done. If I thought back to what he’d said, I’d have probably hit him again.’

He adds: ‘I still think he’s a cast iron asshole. I don’t think he’s a nice fella but it took two of us to get it right.’

On the back of his third career defeat, Haye initially appeared to have persuaded Bellew to give him an immediate rematch.

But Haye ruptured his Achilles in the sixth round, rendering him almost unable to walk or fight

Bellew took advantage of his opponent's injury to secure the 29th victory of his 32-fight career

But after breaking his hand during the fight, ‘Bomber’ was afforded a lay-off that allowed him to assess other options.

A second domestic clash with Haye remains a possibility. But Bellew is also eyeing potential fights with WBO world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and even pound-for-pound king Andre Ward.

Securing either fight would cap a remarkable and rapid rise for a boxer who, only a couple of years back, seemed destined to remain on the fringe of world level following defeats by Nathan Cleverly and Adonis Stevenson.

For most fighters, the prospect of becoming a two-weight world champion or toppling the world’s best fighter would represent the pinnacle of a career. For Bellew, however, that race has already been run. The peak of his time in the sport came and went in three short rounds, when he dismantled Makabu on home soil.

‘Nothing is ever going to come close (to that). If I fight Andre Ward and knock him out in the first 20 seconds of the first round, it still wouldn’t touch Goodison,’ he admits.

‘I have reached Everest, I have done it. I’ve lived the dream.’

Why, then, would he consider putting his body through more hell?

Despite the bad blood in the lead up to their fight, Haye and Bellew embraced at the end

Bellew was beaten by fierce rival Nathan Cleverly when he first challenged for the world title

The 34-year-old was stopped in his second world title tilt, against Adonis Stevenson in Canada

The 34-year-old admits the prospect of becoming heavyweight champion ‘drives’ him to stay in the gym. But it is a fear of life beyond the ring that prevents him from hanging up his gloves. ‘Bomber’ is not worried about experiencing the same issues as Ricky Hatton, who struggled with drugs and depression in retirement.

Nor is he concerned that he would one day seek a return to the ring beyond his 50th birthday like Nigel Benn and Steve Collins.

Instead Bellew is scared that leaving the sport too soon could be a one-way ticket to the same problems from which boxing saved him during his youth.

‘There is fear about what I’m going to do when I stop fighting,’ he admits. ‘Do I still like fighting? The truth of the matter is, yes, I actually like fighting. So it scares me. I don’t want to walk away from the sport when I still have fight left in me because that’s only going to see me locked up or in trouble.’

Bellew holds the famous Claret Jug ahead of the Open Championship's return to Merseyside

The 34-year-old takes part in a beach golf challenge ahead of the tournament at Royal Birkdale

He adds: ‘I could happily walk away tomorrow and say enough is enough. My body has been damaged enough times. I have broken my hand six times, I have had 18 stitches over something in my eyes after fights, cuts, and I’ve cracked ribs, detached floating ribs. I’ve had a lot of injuries from boxing and can my body take much more? Probably not.

‘Do I want to take much more? The thought of being heavyweight champ drives me, it really does. So I’m still going to the gym, I’m still pushing myself really hard. That lets me know I’ve still got a lot left to give.’

All the hours and all the sacrifice, he says, are in pursuit of one aim: To give his kids the opportunities he never had, that leg-up that will afford them the chance to take another path.

Former world chmpion Ricky Hatton struggled with drugs and depression after retiring

Nigel Benn, 53, last month claimed he and Steve Collins, 52, had agreed to fight again

The two former world champions fought twice during the 1990s, with Collins winning both

Bellew has not fallen out of love with boxing, that much is obvious. But as a child made on the streets, he knows it can be the hardest way to make an easy living.

'Bomber' has gone further than most in the ring in a bid to keep his children out of it.

He is confident he has talked his eldest son out of donning the gloves and hopes his 9-year-old will pursue his passion for building lego and become an engineer.

But he fears that despite all his dedication and graft, this is one fight he is destined to lose.

‘My youngest one, I’m going to be honest, I think I’ve lost him to the fight game. He’s not going to do it with my blessing. But he just wants to punch and fight everyone and he’s four years old. And he’s handy already... It’s a worry.’

If his suspicions are proved right, Bellew knows only too well that no amount of money or quad bikes will likely change his mind.

Bellew claims not even beating Andre Ward would top winning the world title at Goodison

Ward cemented his place as pound-for-pound king with a second victory over Sergey Kovalev

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