By Scott Gilfoid: Tony Bellew (21-2-1, 13 KO’s) didn’t have much good things to say about former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly’s cruiserweight debut last night against 39-year-old Shawn Corbin (17-5, 12 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Cleverly did what he had to do in stopping the hapless Corbin in 2 rounds after nailing him with a flurry of punches. Bellew got on his soapbox and went into a long monologue about Cleverly and Johnny Nelson just let him yap away for a good 6 minutes of air time without stepping on his speech.
As far as Cleverly’s performance goes, he looked decent against a guy that basically had no chance of beating him. Bellew, who was working as one of the boxing commentators for Sky, took the opportunity to bad mouth Cleverly after the fight.
Bellew didn’t see Corbin as comparable to the opponent that he had for his cruiserweight debut last March against Valery Brudov. Bellew was almost knocked out by the 37-year-old Brudov, and he was pretty well beaten up by the Russian until the 12th round when Bellew was able to knock the tired Brudov out.
“Let’s be totally honest here; Shawn Corbin makes Valery Brudov look like Ivan Drago,” Bellew said. “It’s as simple as that. If he [Cleverly] faces me, he’s going to visit his demons again. Let’s get something straight; you come to me. Next time no judges are going to be needed. I’m going to do worse than Kovalev. Bodies don’t win fights; fists win fights. My knockout percentage is better than his. I hurt people when I hit them, it’s as simple as that. I’m going to hurt him in November. As I said before, Nathan’s a confidence fighter; he’s a confidence guy. He needed confidence builder [Corbin], I don’t. The only reason I’m fighting Nathan Cleverly is personal. I want to put it straight. My goal, my track is to fight for a world title.”
Bellew was beaten by Cleverly three years ago by a 12 round majority decision in a good fight. Bellew fought Cleverly on even terms for the first 9 rounds, but then he gassed out badly in the last 3 rounds of the fight and ended up losing because of that. Bellew feels that he should have won the fight, but the judges saw Cleverly as the better fighter.
“I think he’ll come here [Liverpool] and fight July the 12th. He’ll co-feature on that, and if no injuries and then it [Bellew-Cleverly 2 rematch] happens in November. If you saw Cleverly tonight, you’d think he’s the second coming of Carl Thompson the way he blew that guy away. The fact of the matter is he’s not a puncher.”
Bellew went onto say that he’s been at cruiserweight in size for years now, and that Cleverly is just now adding weight to his frame. Bellew feels that he’ll have a natural advantage over Cleverly because he’s been walking around as a cruiserweight for a long time.
Bellew looked pretty bad against Brudov, and it’s hard to take him seriously when his last fight was such a poor one. But even if Bellew does beat Cleverly, it’s hard to see Bellew going anywhere in the division. I mean, if a guy like Brudov, who isn’t a top fighter in the cruiserweight division, was able to able to have Bellew on the brink of a knockout loss, then what’s going to happen to Bellew when he starts facing cruiserweights that are actually good? The Cleverly fight is a good foxhole for Bellew to lay low for a while, but he’s still going to be for a world of hurt when he gets in the ring with guys like Ola Afolabi, Thabiso Mchunu, Rakhim Chakhkiev, BJ Flores, Pawel Kolodziej and Ilunga Makabu.
These guys can all punch and they’re much better than Brudov in my view. I’m not even talking about the cruiserweight champions. I think Bellew would get destroyed by the top contenders in the division. I seriously doubt that Hearn will risk putting Bellew in with any of these guys while moving him up the ranks for a title shot. Hearn even said that he could get Bellew and Cleverly title shots straightaway if he wanted to, but that the grudge match was more important right now due to the huge interest that it would draw in the UK. If Bellew beats Cleverly, I see him being put in with more Brudov types, and not against any of the dangerous contenders. Hearn’s match-making for Bellew will tell you what he thinks of his changes against the good opposition in the division. If Bellew keeps being put in with old codgers, then it would suggest that there’s some doubts about whether Bellew has the talent to beat them. If I was Bellew’s promoter there’s no way I would put him in with any of those guys. I’d keep him in the slow lane against old toothless lions until he got his title shot, and then I’d focus on rebuilding him after he’s knocked out.
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