English professional boxer Tony Bellew has been crowned with the new World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight title after winning Congolese Ilunga Makabu in a sensational third-round victory at the Goodison Park in Liverpool, England on Sunday.

The 33-year-old boxing champion, who is part of the latest Rocky movie Creed, was floored by a strong left hand from Makabu late in the opening round of their fight. However, Bellew was able to weather the knockdown and continued fighting.

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In the third round of the match, Bellew unleashed a series of big punches that Makabu could not recover from. Bellew connected and rocked the former WBF cruiserweight champion with a huge left hook and right uppercut that left Makabu unconscious on the canvass.

With the WBC cruiserweight title under his belt, Bellew has improved to 27 wins, two losses, one draw with 17 knockouts.  Makabu, on the other hand, suffered his second defeat in 21 bouts of his professional career.

According to ESPN, Bellew's victory means that Great Britain now has a total of 13 world champions after Ricky Burns's accomplishment on Saturday in securing the WBA light-welterweight title.

Britain's world champions are: (WBC cruiserweight) Tony Bellew, (WBA-WBO heavyweight) Tyson Fury, (IBF super-middleweight) James DeGale, (IBF heavyweight) Anthony Joshua,  (WBO middleweight) Billy Joe Saunders, (IBF welterweight) Kell Brook, (WBO light-middleweight) Liam Smith, (WBA lightweight) Anthony Crolla, (WBA light-welterweight) Ricky Burns, (IBF featherweight) Lee Selby, (WBO lightweight) Terry Flanagan, (IBF bantamweight) Lee Haskins and (WBA bantamweight) Jamie McDonnell.

After winning his first world title belt Bellew called out the Russian WBA and IBF champion Denis Lebedev and fellow British national David Haye. Haye is a 2001 World Championships runner-up and a former cruiserweight world champion.

Tagstony bellew, WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA, ilunga makabu