Bellew: I want to give Cleverly a good hiding

By Boxing News - 02/04/2014 - Comments

bellew4By Scott Gilfoid: #7 WBC cruiserweight contender Tony Bellew (20-2-1, 12 KO’s) wants get former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) in the ring so that he can avenge his loss to him from three years ago while at the same time giving him a good beating for good measure. Bellew doesn’t like the face that Cleverly never gave him a rematch all these years despite their fight being a close in 2011.

Things have changed considerably for both fighters with each of them coming off of stoppage losses against the best fighters in the light heavyweight division. Cleverly was crushed in 4 rounds by Sergey Kovalev last year in August, whereas Bellew was destroyed in 6 rounds by Adonis Stevenson last November. The interesting thing is both Cleverly and Bellew chose to leave the 175 lb division after taking their whippings, and both are trying to reinvent their careers in the cruiserweight division. What are the odds of something like that happen? Both guys scram after taking losses rather than sticking it out.

“I basically had to beg for the rematch after the first fight and was told ‘no.'” Bellew said via Sky Sports. “Now he has nowhere to go. He sells about 10 tickets in his hometown while in Liverpool we can sell 10,000. I believe he needs me now and I don’t need him. I’d love nothing more than to give him a good hiding.”

This is pretty funny. If Bellew doesn’t need Cleverly, then why in the heck is he droning on about wanting to fight him so badly? It’s obvious that Bellew wants nothing better than to get the light hitting Cleverly in the ring and try to do the same thing to him that Kovalev did in dropping him over and over again. The problem is Cleverly doesn’t look like he’s too eager to fight Bellew right now, and who can blame him. I think Cleverly’s loss to Kovalev may have affected him more than Bellew’s beat down against Stevenson. Cleverly should have been back in the ring already by now, but he’s still lagging and cancelling fights left and right.

Bellew has a fight next month against 37-year-old Valery Brudov (41-4, 28 KO’s) at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, UK. This is no guaranteed win for Bellew, and I suppose if he gets beaten, he’ll either slink back down to the 175 lb division or retire. I can’t see Bellew retiring, so my guess is he’ll move back down to 175. It seems like a batty decision by him – and Cleverly – to move up in weight to the cruiserweight division after getting manhandled by hard punchers in the light heavyweight division. If they can’t take hard shots against powerful light heavyweights then what do you think will happen when they take on cruiserweights? In that division pretty much everyone can punch.



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