ON NOVEMBER 22 at the Liverpool Echo Arena, Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew will meet in one of British boxing’s biggest grudge matches in recent years.

Cefn Fforest fighter Cleverly won the first battle between the pair in 2011, but the dispute between them has only grown and grown since.

Argus boxing writer Michael Pearlman sat down with Bellew to find out the truth behind the hatred.

IT is a few minutes after the head-to-head press conference between Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew, with things getting increasingly heated in Cardiff’s City Hall.

Bellew has just been booed at and sworn at repeatedly by Cleverly’s supporters, some of whom appear to have taken on libation and who were invited by the promoters to create an atmosphere at the second press conference of the day, the first in Liverpool where the fight will be staged.

They call him fat, they call him all the names under the sun, but Bellew keeps his cool and even takes dozens of photographs with Cleverly’s fans. “You are the worst person on earth, can I grab a quick photo,” Bellew quips, knowing all too well few sports can emphasise hypocrisy better than boxing.

He’s his usual charming self with the South Wales press, even though he knows he’s developed quite the reputation in this part of the world.

So who is the real Tony Bellew? The family man who loves his boxing and his football and who many see as an ambassador for British boxing? Or is the other side of Bellew the real him, the snarling, eye-bulging fighter who clearly and audibly told Cleverly he was going to “put him in the floor, not on it, but under it,” during a terse face-off and claims to hate Cleverly, who he describes as “a f****** scumbag.”

Bellew on.... Why the fight is in Liverpool and not Cardiff

“We are finally here and fighting but if I had my way we would be fighting in Cardiff.

“We had a good turn-out for the press conference there, it is just a shame that you lot, the Welsh fans, don’t buy tickets for Nathan Cleverly fights and he has arenas full of empty seats,” he said.

“This fight is something I have wanted since the first one, I’ve stated that openly and obviously but Nathan wasn’t willing to give me the chance.

“Now it is happening because Nathan has nowhere else to go and I am the money fighter. That’s the truth, no ifs, not buts and no lies.

“That’s why it is happening. I wish the fight was in Cardiff, but in November you can all welcome back Nathan as the beaten up loser that he is.

“Nathan is not the next Joe Calzaghe, he can’t fill an arena; he can barely fill a phone box. Joe was a great and unique fighter.

“But the problem is, all the people moaning at me in Cardiff for not fighting in Cardiff, they don’t buy tickets to see Nathan Cleverly. My fans in Liverpool do support me though, in big numbers.

“That’s just facts, it’s not my fault that scousers love fighting, it’s just the way it goes, we are a nation to ourselves.”

Bellew on.... His hatred of Cleverly

“My hatred of Nathan is absolutely genuine, I can’t stand him.

“This isn’t just selling a fight. If Nathan and I were to meet with no promoters or cameras, there would be no talking, there would be straight on fighting, I am nice person I am a dad of three who loves his kids and his family, but as far as I am concerned, Nathan Cleverly is a f****** scumbag.

“Look at how he behaved after the first fight, he said something to my face and something different behind my back and that is why I have genuine hatred for him.

“Take me out of the room with Nathan Cleverly and I am a normal guy who loves his family and his football.

“Before the first fight I didn’t hate him, I didn’t even dislike him, but there were a few things that did rile me about him.

“I didn’t like that stupid bandana that he wore to the ring and I felt like he looked down his nose at me a little bit because of his maths degree.

“I look at every individual person as the same, but Nathan looked down his nose at me, he’s what is wrong with boxing and that is why I call him a fraud.”

Bellew on... The battle of the bodies at cruiserweight

“It is nice to know Nathan knows I am a bigger hitter than me, but I don’t really care what he thinks. According to him I’m a fat guy and he’s an amazing athlete and fighter, but I can’t get my head around why he’s fighting blown up super middleweight at cruiserweight.

“If bodies won fights, Nathan would be a three weight world champion and I’d be Peter Buckley, losing 200 fights, but the bad thing for Nathan is bodies don’t win fights, a big set of balls, two fists and your head win fights and what I will do to Nathan will shock a lot of people.

“I won’t get too emotional, I have learned my lessons. I burst my hand on his head in the second round of the last fight and kept going. By the tenth round I knew I’d won six of the rounds, deep down I knew and when I look back I don’t see how the fight didn’t end up at least draw.

“But last time, I’ll admit, I fought on pure emotion, the whole event; I just wanted to take his head off. I’m a lot more mature now. Look at the calibre of opponent I’ve faced since and look who he has fought.”

Bellew on... How to react to a defeat

“I come out and face the music when I lose, like I did after the Stevenson fight, he punched like a mule.

“Nathan, after he lost, what happened to him? He went missing for six months. He’d be partying in Ibiza or Benidorm or whatever he was doing.

“They he does an interview in a flat, looking like it’s Steptoe’s backyard and he’s got his head down saying he’s thinking about retiring and he doesn’t know where he’s going to go next.

“I saw that and I that, he isn’t no fighter. Me, I love fighting. I absolutely love it. I’m not going to tell you I am the best boxer in the world, but I love fighting and when I look in Nathan’s eyes, I can tell it is not the same for him.

“He’s lost the love for boxing and I’m going to expose that on November 22.”