TONY BELLEW has been forced out of his world title challenge against Nathan Cleverly after failing to make the weight.

The Wavertree boxer failed last night’s check weigh-in, coming in over 13st, leaving him with little chance of making the light-heavyweight limit of 12st 7lbs in time for this afternoon’s official weigh-in.

Boxing chiefs wanted the Scouser to be 12st 13lbs by that point but when he tipped the scales at over 13st, Bellew’s chances came to an end.

Newly-crowned WBO champion Cleverly – who won the title after it was stripped from orginal opponent Juergen Braehmer after he pulled out on Wednesday through injury – was presented with two options: either fight Bellew at a catchweight or stick with his world title plans.

The Welshman turned down the chance to clash with Liverpool’s ‘The Bomber’ in a 10-round bout, likely to be made closer to 13st, in favour of defending his crown against Poland’s Aleksy Kuziemski, who is ranked 11th by the World Boxing Organisation.

Bellew was understanably devastated to have missed out on his chance to fight for world glory but pushed his body as far as it could go, spending two-and-a-half hours in a sauna but losing just a pound.

Deyhdrated, the 28-year-old’s body had shut down and meant he was never going to lose any more weight in time for the weigh-in.

Bellew had made quite an impression at yesterday’s press conference as he came close to blows with Cleverly with the pair trading verbal insults.

He appeared hell-bent on leaving a lasting impression on the world title scene after crash-landing there on Wednesday and earning a surprise shot at Cleverly.

Officially announcing his arrival with a volley of spite towards his Welsh rival, ‘The Bomber’ cranked the intensity up several notches.