Rocky Fielding reached the top in boxing as he reigned as super-middleweight champion in 2018 before being stopped by Canelo Alvarez in December of that year.
The Liverpool man endured some hard nights in the ring when losing to Canelo and Callum Smith, but despite being stopped by those two, he credits Tony Bellew as the hardest puncher he ever stepped in the ring with.
As a young fighter pursuing glory as an amateur at Rotunda ABC, Fielding would sometimes turn to one of the club’s former fighters for sparring with Bellew providing him with many tough rounds.
With Bellew forging his own path as a professional prospect, he was often on hand to assist Fielding with his training and Rocky has spoken about those experiences.
"From my fights, I’ve had defeats from Canelo and Callum [Smith], but they weren’t really hard shots, they were just well-placed shots, body shots,” said Fielding when speaking to Talksport.
"But, in sparring it would obviously be Tony Bellew. I had lots of sparring with Tony when I was an amateur, he helped me out, and then when I turned pro, we had some good spars.
"I got caught a few times off him and I felt it down to my boots, so I would probably say Bellew has hit me the hardest.”