By Scott Gilfoid: Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) lost his WBO light heavyweight title last August when he was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev in four rounds in front of his own fans at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Cleverly thought he could beat Kovalev, who was favored in that fight, but he ended up getting blasted out in short order. Cleverly will now be moving up to the cruiserweight division to fight little known Sean Corbin (17-4, 12 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena on May 17th.
Cleverly says that he was badly hurt by Kovalev’s shots, and that they had him feeling woozy after he ate a handful in the fight. Kovalev knocked CLeverly down twice in the 3rd round of the fight, and had to be partially carried back to his stool after the round had ended by referee Terry O’Connor. It was one of the oddest things you’ll ever see in the ring, because usually a referee would halt the fight if a fighter is unable to walk on his own back to his corner. They don’t partially carry a fighter back to their seat.
“Kovalev is a massive puncher; each punch is like being hit by a sledgehammer,” Cleverly said. “He sparked Ismayl Sillah clean out in the second round – he was completely gone. He didn’t do that to me, he shook me up and I was in no position to continue really, I was drunk from the punches and I have got a great chin, so he does hit hard and he’s probably the most dangerous Light Heavyweight out there.”
Kovalev would have knocked Cleverly out like he did with Sillah if the fight wasn’t halted at the start of the 4th round by referee Terry O’Connor. Cleverly was like a punching bag in that fight, and it was only a matter of time until Kovalev hit him with a shot that he wasn’t going to be able to get up from.
Cleverly has now moved up in weight to the cruiserweight division, and he honestly believes that his power is going to be better at this weight. That may be, but he was a weak puncher at 175, so even if Cleverly does develop a little more power in going up in weight, we’re probably not talking about him becoming another Kovalev just because he put on some weight. Cleverly should be happy if he can at least have the power of moderate power at cruiserweight, because I think that’s the best he can hope for.
Cleverly thinks he’ll be ready to take on the best in the cruiserweight division in 2-3 fights. I have serious doubts about Cleverly having any impact at all in this division. If anything, I just see Cleverly as a fringe contender that hangs around, and maybe gets a world title shot or two, and gets knocked the spark out each time.
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