Bellew: Cleverly would have beaten Kovalev if he used his speed and movement

By Boxing News - 08/23/2013 - Comments

cleverly4544By Scott Gilfoid: Tony Bellew thinks former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly would have beaten undefeated Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night had Cleverly chosen to flash his hand speed, and use his mobility against the tough Russian. Bellew believes Cleverly fought the wrong game plan choosing not to move a lot, and box.

Bellew said on his social media site “I stand by my original judgment of Kovalev. He’s very strong, but look closely. His power covers many mistakes. He won’t be the champ long. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a rematch clause in there. If he [Cleverly] used his speed and movement, he would have won IMO [in my opinion]. You don’t bang with a banger.”

As far as I could tell, Cleverly fought about as passive as he could fight without actually running from Kovalev. I mean, all Cleverly did was jab and back away, and it didn’t work. Kovalev was able to move his head to avoid a lot of Cleverly’s jabs, and nail him in return.

Bellew is overrating Cleverly’s hand speed, because there wasn’t any speed for Cleverly to tap in order to beat Kovalev. Bellew might as well opined that Cleverly should have used his hidden power to KO Kovalev, because that comes out to about the same thing. Cleverly doesn’t have hand speed, so he couldn’t use it.

It’s true that Cleverly could have used movement against Kovalev, but where would he have gone? Kovalev was cutting off the ring quickly, and Cleverly moved like a stork. He’s not a good mover, and he fights in that upright manner that was perfect for a slugger like Kovalev to nail him.

I think Kovalev will be a champion longer than Cleverly was. Cleverly held the WBO light heavyweight title for 2 years, from 2011-2013. The only thing that could get in the way of Kovalev not holding onto his WBO title for at least 2 years is if he takes on only the best fighters each time he gets in the ring.

If Kovalev takes on the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal and Adonis Stevenson, then there’s a chance he could lose his title quickly. But there’s also a chance that he beats all three of those guys. But if Kovalev milks his title and fights the same kind of soft opposition that Cleverly fought in his 2 years as the champion, then Kovalev will be able to hold onto the WBO title for many years. I would hope that he wouldn’t take on weak opposition, because I don’t think HBO would say yes to him fighting a bunch of fringe contenders instead of the very best in the division.



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