Cleverly decisions Bellew , DeGale defeats Wilczewski

By Boxing News - 10/15/2011 - Comments

Image: Cleverly decisions Bellew , DeGale defeats WilczewskiBy Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO’s) retained his World Boxing Organization title on Saturday night in beating number #13 ranked WBO contender Tony Bellew (16-1, 10 KO’s) by a 12 round majority decision at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, England.

There was a wide disparity among the scores with judges Dave Parris scoring it by a wide margin of 117-112, Terry O’Conner having a more realistic view of the fight by scoring it 114-114, and Phil Edwards giving Cleverly the nod by the scored of 116-113.

I myself had the fight a 12 round draw by the scores of 114-114. Cleverly gave away too many rounds in the first half of the fight in losing rounds two though four, and then losing rounds seven, nine and ten on my scorecard. That makes the fight a draw, and I really feel sorry for poor Bellew. He fought his backside off and did more than enough to earn a draw but had to settle for getting beaten by a close 12 round draw. Sad, very sad.

Bellew showed amazing power in the fight and had Cleverly’s face looking red from all the big right hands he was nailing Cleverly with in the fight. It was like Cleverly eating right hands like they were snacks. Just no defense at all for Cleverly. This guy isn’t going to last long taking shots like the ones that Bellew was landing in the fight.

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In another disappointing fight on the card, former British super middleweight champion James DeGale (11-1, 8 KO’s) won a controversial 12 round majority decision over EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski (29-2, 10 KO’s) by the scores of 115-113, 114-114 and 115-113. I had this fight also scored as a draw by the scores of 114-114.

DeGale was badly hurt by Wilczewski in the 5th round from a big right hand, and hurt at least one other time. DeGale showed no defense to Wilczewski’s hand and lacked power on his own shots. In the championship rounds, DeGale ran out of gas and appeared to lose both the `11th and 12th rounds on my card.

That should have left DeGale with a 12 round draw, but the judges were on DeGale’s side in this fight and he’s mighty lucky. However, there’s no ignoring the fact that DeGale really struggled with Wilczewski, and this is someone that the top fighters in the division would easily beat if they were in the same circumstances as DeGale. What it seems to suggest is that DeGale is a domestic level fighter at best, and he’s not ready to take on world class level fighters like Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.

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