By Scott Gilfoid: Sky Sports columnist Johnny Nelson thinks IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) should stay far, far away from the light hitting WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO’s) if he knows what’s good for him because Nelson believes that Cleverly would beat Hopkins if and when that fight is ever made.
Nelson said to Sky Sports “If I was Hopkins, I wouldn’t want that fight…If Hopkins feels he can beat the Welshman then good on him, but in my opinion, Cleverly is too busy and too fast for Hopkins. Look at how Joe Calzaghe beat Hopkins. Cleverly would be similar…his work rate would be too high.”
I totally disagree with Nelson. I think Cleverly is painfully slow, weak, sloppy, and wild as heck. I wouldn’t recommend Hopkins to take the fight because there’s no gain in beating Cleverly because he has no real fan base in the U.S, so beating him wouldn’t even give Hopkins the attention he got when he exposed former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in their 170 lb. catchweight fight in October 2008.
Beating Pavlik got Hopkins some attention because Pavlik was well known in the United States. Beating Cleverly won’t get Hopkins anything because the guys an unknown in the U.S, so he might as well be closing his eyes and selecting anyone in the light heavyweight division because the attention Hopkins would get from that fight would likely be identical to the attention he’d get for fighting Cleverly.
With Cleverly, Hopkins would have to worry about getting nailed with rabbit punches because Cleverly can throw a mean rabbit shot every now and then. I mean, those rabbit shots Cleverly was nailing 2nd tier fighter Shawn Hawk with last November were good enough to put in a book to illustrate how to throw a rabbit shot.
The only thing that would be missing is a photo to go with it with a referee taking a point away for the illegal punch. I think Hopkins would be safer to go with someone a little more traditional with their fighting style like WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov. That would be a good fight for Hopkins, and he could pick up another strap.
Hopkins should face Gennady Golovkin because he’s unbeaten, powerful, and he’s well known among American casual boxing fans due to his fights being televised on cable in the U.S.
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