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This evening, WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly, 22-0 with 11 KO’s, of Wales defends his title against Liverpool, England’s Tony Bellew.
This fight has been coming around for some time now, after Cleverly was scheduled to challenge for the WBO title against reigning champion Jurgen Braehmer, who subsequently pulled out at very short notice.
Braehmer was stripped of his title and it was up for grabs as Cleverly faced Braehmers replacement, Aleksy Kuziemski, who Cleverly stopped in four rounds.
Cleverly still doesn’t really feel like he has earned the title the right and proper way, but then it wasn’t his fault that Braehmer pulled out. Before Kuziemski was added, Commonwealth champion Tony Bellew was asked to step in at late notice.
Bellew 16-0 with 10 KO’s, jumped at the chance and desperately tried to cut the weight, he just couldn’t get to 175 lbs at such short notice.
Bellew went away heartbroken, but in the press conference a day or two before he had set in motion a big future showdown. Amongst the usual rhetoric that most fighters give in front of the media, both fighters lost their cool and almost ended up in the car park; at one point the police were called.
This was now bad blood between the two undefeated fighters, and it was a showdown that not only the boxers wanted but the fans wanted it as well.
On paper, Cleverly is the more experienced man here, and goes in as the obvious favourite. His KO ratio is 50% so he can bang when needed, his power has really come a long way since he has made his way through the ranks.
He sits down on his shots more now, he also has a very good chin, he has been knocked about before, as he doesn’t have the best defence in the world but he hasn’t been dropped yet. Generally his hands will be at waist height, until something comes back his way then it’s hands held in a high guard, no clever shoulder rolls, or ducking and weaving, he may slip a jab or two but he will prefer to stand and trade.
When you look at Cleverly’s record, it reads exactly how you would of liked it to, some good domestic opposition, good Commonwealth and good European opposition, some of the more recent bouts have been hard, as fighters have pulled out at short notice leaving Cleverly a tad lacklustre. In the end, it shows he has his head screwed on as he has always come away with the win.
When he was 7-0 he took on Tony Quigley, who was also 7-0, and stopped him in the fifth round. Six fights later, he took on experienced Tony Oakey, who was 25-3-1 at the time, for the vacant Commonwealth belt. Most said it was too much too soon, but Cleverly out boxed and outworked Oakey in a good scrap, taking the points victory.
Next was Douglas Otieno, who was 18-1-0, then Samson Onyango at 18-3, then Billy Boyle at 12-1. None of these fights went past the fourth round.
Cleverly stopped prospect Danny McIntosh, 10-0 at the time, followed by Courtney Fry, 13-2-0, another prospect.
Cleverly stepped up in class when he went for the European title, against Antonio Brancalion, who was 32-7-2, and is known to be a handful. Cleverly knocked lumps out of him before stopping the Italian in the fifth.
He took Karo Murat’s 22-0 undefeated reign, then replacement Nadjib Mohammedi, 23-1, he took over the distance.
All of these guys had something to give, something to offer, be it an undefeated record, or a big punch, or a huge heart or silky skills. Cleverly saw them all off.
Bellew is a loud character to say the least. Most are saying this is a huge step up for him. However, if you were to listen to him, you could be mistaken in thinking Bellew was the experienced champion.
His record doesn’t shine quite as brightly as Cleverly’s. The highlight of his career so far would be beating former Prizefighter winner Ovil Mackenzie in a rematch. The rematch only happened after the outcome of the first bout was, in many eyes, mine included, dubious.
Bellew was knocked down twice, the second time very hard. To his credit, he got up and continued the fight, knocking Mackenzie down with a peach of a left hook, but Mackenzie got up and just as it was hotting up the ref jumped in on a stoppage, maybe one of the worst I have ever seen as Bellew didn’t even throw anything that landed.
In buildup leading to the rematch, we got all the bravado, all the hype. But when the bell rang it was an incredibly tedious fight. Bellew looked tentative because of Mackenzie’s power, and Mackenzie was just soaking up the limelight, happy to be there.
With a 62% KO ratio and with a nickname like ‘Bomber’, it is safe to assume Bellew has relatively heavy hands. A good amateur, he still carries the same stance and pedigree. That may allow Cleverly to move around and open up angles on Bellew.
There is genuine bad blood in this fight; Cleverly and Bellew do not like each other. But in reality, the only way Bellew wins this fight is if Cleverly gets careless.
We know Cleverly likes to trade but against Bellew, who will be up for it, this wouldn’t be the smartest move. Cleverly can stand off and outbox Bellew all night. He is more experienced, he has better footwork and is faster. Bellew has been put down a few times in his career by no one particularly special, whether that is making the weight or just not the best chin, I don’t know.
The venue should not phase Cleverly either, as he has been there all before, but this will be at home for Bellew, and is his biggest fight yet so the pressure will be on.
Cleverly will outbox Bellew for the early rounds, before stopping him in the middle to late rounds. Cleverly has far too much for Bellew at this stage of his career, but there will be fireworks along the way; there is no way Bellew goes down without a fight.
