By Daven: Six months ago Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverly were licking their wounds after being outclassed by the dominant duo of Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev. Now both men are coming off two straight stoppage victories at a much more dangerous weight division.
Eddie Hearn has somehow managed to quickly resurrect two careers which six months ago were in ruins. Nobody really gave either man any hope of winning a world title yet now there is a scenario that at least one could fight for such honours in early 2015.
Bellew seems to be a totally different animal at 14 stone 4 lbs; this was evidenced on Saturday night by his spontaneous knockout of a very durable opponent. In fact he wasn’t merely tough, he was live and showed glimpses of his power. The bomber overcame the challenge but question marks over the strength of his chin remain. Had he have been up against a higher calibre opponent such as Cleverly would he have survived such blows?
On the other hand Cleverly hasn’t been tested at all in his two fights with Matchroom, whilst some may say this is evidence of his improvement, skeptics would say otherwise. I would advocate the notion of Cleverly fighting one more time prior to a return with Bellew just to accumulate some rounds like Bellew did against Brudov back in March. However Eddie Hearn isn’t likely to be patient when Nathan’s progression is concerned. It seems set in stone that November will be the month of the rematch and he certainly won’t risk tarnishing the image of either man who both have vulnerabilities by making them fight in September. Both appear to be on the rise in regards to confidence and popularity outside of the ring, accordingly it would be detrimental to risk sabotaging it all.
Interestingly many see the rematch as a 50-50 fight even though one is a former world champion, whilst the other has only been a success at domestic level. This is a fascinating fact yet it’s been completely overlooked by the pundits and the media. Surely there’s a reason why Cleverly was able to win a world title, retain it six times and beat Bellew in the first place? (In Liverpool too) It cannot just be because he was promoted better. Understandably the bout cannot be hyped in this manner because people would quickly perceive Cleverly as the massive favourite and therefore would lead to little viewing because the “unpredictability” element would be rendered redundant. Nevertheless people should bear in mind that Cleverley is four years younger, more experienced as a professional and possesses better technical skills than Bellew. How else could he have secured an MD over his foe in Liverpool of all places? There was nothing controversial about the first fight, I urge all to re-watch it.
I expect Bellew to wear his heart on his sleeve and try his utmost to knock Cleverly out early thus defying Dave’s pleas. But if this tactic fails which it probably will because Nathan’s only been taken out once and it was by a man with earth shattering power, then Bellew will be in big trouble because his boxing skills don’t match up with Nathan’s and neither does his conditioning. Should the fight go the distance one envisages Cleverly emerging the victor as he possesses better defensive capabilities, more accomplished boxing skills and just a more varied arsenal. Bellew seems to think because he’s knocked out two over the hill fighters, he’ll be able to repeat the feat every time. Moreover he ought to snap out of issuing thuggish threats, he was boasting about how he was going to put Cleverly into a coma, this crossed the line and Tony should be disappointed with himself. Spitting on a fellow human being is also unacceptable and bound to lead to bad blood, it also turns educated people away from this tremendous sport and reinforces unkind stereotypes of boxers and boxing fans. I will end by reminding everybody that Nathan Cleverly is a former world champion hence shouldn’t be overlooked by a man who has only won British and Commonwealth titles.
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