Future of Boxing: Nathan Cleverly

By Peter Wells: In boxing there has to always be a future and once the fighters at the top now have moved on to retirement or are nearing the end of there careers the never ending chain carries on to another generation. Boxing will never have a pause in it as there is never a break in the circle of fighters it just goes round and round, each time a new prospect drops into the sport hoping to become a superstar.

Britain has no young superstar like Welshman Nathan Cleverly, he has been said to be the next Joe Calzaghe. He’s a Light Heavyweight like Joe was at the end of his career; he’s got fast hands and has more power than Calzaghe and both are Welsh. It is a case of how can’t Nathan make it to world class level; he’s got great power, quick hands, long arms and can go the distance.

He’s mastered British level and is looking to good for European Level so surely by the end of the year he’ll be fighting world class opponents. He may not become one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but world titles are defiantly on the menu.

Light Heavyweight division is starting to pile up with good fighters, there’s Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud and Jean Pascal. By the time Nathan hits the big time these fighters will surely still be around and could even be pound-for-pound top ten fighters by then. Chad Dawson is already in the top 10 according to The Ring and Cloud and Pascal are new comers to the big boy’s league.

Cleverly has won his last 6 fights by knockout but still hasn’t got an amazing knockout record, scoring only 3 knockouts before that. In 19 pro fights he’s become Commonwealth, British and European champion and has beaten some of the best British Light Heavyweights including Tony Oakey, Billy Boyle and Danny McIntosh and has just beaten Italian Veteran Antonio Brancalian in 6 rounds last night. It was a spectacular display and he looked so calm in doing so unleashing effortless punches which sent Antonio’s head back with such ease. It’s incredible to watch how he let’s his hands go so freely with such accuracy and speed and power. The shots come from all angles and Brancalian just didn’t know how to defend against them, like Cleverly’s last 5 opponents.

Nathan is 6’3½ with a 74 inch reach and at only 22 has plenty of time to develop. Whatever’s next for Cleverly it’s bound to be great and I will look forward to watching the rest of Nathan’s career. If you haven’t watched any of his fights yet it would be a great idea to check him out on YouTube, especially his last fight and his fight with Danny McIntosh.

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