By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO light heavyweight title holder Nathan Cleverly (27-1, 13 KO’s) will be undertaking the first part of his plan to get an eventual world title shot on Saturday against little known Alejandro Emilio Valori (15-4, 11 KOs) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
The next part involves Cleverly trying to beat Tony Bellew in a rematch later this year. The final part will be Cleverly being given a world title shot, he hopes, off the back of his wins over Valori and Bellew. Compared to what some of the other top cruiserweight contenders go through to get a world title shot, Cleverly appears to have it pretty easy because he’s basically being asked to really beat one halfway decent fighter in Bellew, because you can’t count Valori, because he’s not a top tier fighter, but rather a fighter that is more of a stay busy/tune-up type of guy to help Cleverly get acclimated.
I don’t know that it’s the smartest thing in the world to have Cleverly fighting for a world title at cruiserweight after victories over 39-year-old Shawn Corbin, Valori and Bellew. I mean, more power to Cleverly if his promoter Eddie Hearn can get him the title shot, but I don’t know that it’s a fight that he’ll necessarily be ready for off of his wins over those three fighters.
The smarter way to do it would be to gradually work Cleverly to the point where he’s comfortable and showing that he can hang with the top contenders before having him fight for a world title against whichever champion Hearn feels Cleverly has the best shot at beating. I’m assuming that Hearn will pick the weakest champion of the bunch rather than the best one for Cleverly to try and beat for the strap. That probably means Cleverly won’t be fighting Marco Huck, who looks to be the most dangerous.
“I believe at the end of this year, or probably at the start of 2015, I will be in line for a shot at the World title,” said Cleverly. “I want to get this job done on Alejandro Valori and then first and foremost it is important I win that fight in good fashion. Then we will look for that big domestic grudge match between myself and Bellew and when I bash him up we will be looking for the World title fight then.”
Cleverly looked slower and not particularly powerful in his cruiserweight debut last May in stopping Corbin in the 2nd round. The hand speed was definitely slower, and the power didn’t look any better than he was when he was fighting at light heavyweight. Yeah, Cleverly got a quick knockout, but then again so did Karo Murat, who also recently knocked Corbin out in 2 rounds.
Cleverly said “I think it is realistic that my next fight after Valori will be Bellew. It is a big fight and maybe it should happen sooner rather than later – strike while the iron is hot. We are both fresh at the weight and if all goes well after Saturday we will both be coming off two wins in the weight division. It would be the type of fight where the winner goes on the fight for the World title.”
What’s Cleverly talking about? Of course it’s realistic that he fight Bellew after the Valori fight. That’s the fight that Hearn has been talking about for ages. It’s probably the best that they can hope for other than a world title shot, which I don’t see either Cleverly or Bellew winning.
I still believe that Hearn would be better off having Cleverly fight another 6 times or so before he fights for a world title at cruiserweight, because he’s not going to be ready to fight for a world title at cruiserweight after beating Corbin, Valori and Bellew. Two of the guys are fodder opposition, and Bellew just looks like a fat light heavyweight. He put weight on in eating himself to cruiserweight, but it doesn’t look like muscle weight, and he doesn’t appear any stronger at this weight than he was at light heavyweight.
Hearn needs to put Cleverly in with some real cruiserweights like Rakhim Chakhkiev, Thabiso Mchunu and Ilunga Makabu before he has him fighting for a world title in that division. If Cleverly can beat those three fighters, then I think he should fight for a world title at cruiserweight. But if he gets whipped by one or all three, then he shouldn’t be anywhere near getting a world title shot. Let’s see how Cleverly does with actual cruiserweights with talent like those three instead of the fodder he’s being matched against.
Comments are closed.