Jacob Cullen: I can still remember clearly the first fight between Nathan Cleverly, 27 and Tony Bellew, 31, admittedly I did not know a great deal about either fighter at the time other than Bellew had come off the back of an exciting fight with Ovill McKenzie where he got up from two heavy knockdowns to score a TKO victory, he also gave McKenzie and immediate rematch and won a lop sided points decision. Nathan went into the fight as the WBO light heavyweight champion, a title he won vacant due to Jürgen Braehmer being unable to defend it due to injury. He had beaten two world ranked fighters in Karo Murat (who went on to fight Bernard Hopkins) and the now IBF number 1 contender Nadjib Mohammedi.
Both fighters were part of Frank Warren’s stable and each with ambitions of being recognised as the UKs best Light Heavyweight, neither fighter had bags of experience going into the fight, but Cleverly was the definite favourite being the world champion and former British, Commonwealth and European champion. The press conference and weigh in served as mere appetisers for things to come, with both fighters exchanging various insults and threats.
So the Echo Arena in Liverpool was the venue and the date was 15/10/2011, after 12 gruelling rounds Cleverly was awarded a majority decision victory in what was probably the correct decision, both fighters embraced after the final bell and had nothing but praise for each other in their after fight interview, however what was to come after was years of back and forth insults from each fighters which leads us to November 22nd, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sports PPV fight card appropriately titled ‘Repeat or Revenge’.
After Nathan Cleverly won that fight in 2011 he went on to face some questionable opponents, people that he was far greater than and managed to notch up 3 more title defences against Tommy Karpency, (who recently won a controversial decision against ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson) Shawn Hawk and Robin Krasniqi. However in his 5th overall defence of the title he was pitted against the Krusher Sergey Kovalev and was given a brutul beating on his way to a 4th round stoppage loss. Cleverly went back to the drawing board to decide if he would continue….
As for Tony Bellew, having shown a lot of promise in his close points loss to Cleverly he joined Eddie Hearn’s growing Matchroom stable and went on to have some good victories against Edison Miranda (who was past his devastating best) and the cagey Isaac Chilemba however also was given a brutul beating by Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson, who in my opinion is not as good a fighter a Kovalev yet still a great fighter.
As these losses were around the same time both fighters were left with a decision continue at light heavyweight and except they are possibly outside the top 3 fighters in the division or move up to the cruiserweight division.
Eddie Hearn seeing an opportunity signed Nathan Cleverly, in order to build up a huge Cruiserweight rematch. In a great way to build the rematch and each fighter’s profiles, Hearn organised two cards in Liverpool, billed as Collision Course, with Bellew headlining each and Cleverly on the undercards.
Bellew fought Valery Brudov 41-4-0 and Julio Cesar Dos Santos 26-2-0 both proven Cruiserweights, Nathan on the other hand fought two ‘confidence building’ opponents in Shawn Corbin and Alejandro Emilio Valori, both Cleverly & Bellew won both their fights by stoppage, therefore meaning nothing was in the way and around a month after their last fight they had agreed terms on the rematch.
After some extensive marketing and various TV appearances the stage is set, again the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Nathan Cleverly claiming he is an athlete at the weight and that Bellew is too fat, too slow and predicting a more emphatic victory this time around, Bellew on the other hand considered the bigger puncher at the weight has predicted a devastating knockout.
My view on this fight is one of intrigue, I think Cleverly has some good skills, he keeps a tight guard he throws a lot of punches and a good variety, however he lacks head movement meaning he does absorb a lot of shots and doesn’t have that one punch knockout power nor any real knockout power. Bellew is a better boxer than he is given credit but seems to have become very emotionally involved in this fight claiming to HATE Cleverly and his desire to badly hurt him. Many people will know by now that Bellew has always been a great salesman but one that doesn’t always deliver, however on this occasion I do believe he will. I think this will be a competitive fight but I don’t believe Cleverly can get away with not moving his head at this weight and judging by Bellew’s last two fights he has some good power. My prediction is a Bellew victory by stoppage in the second half of the fight.
Having made this prediction I would not be at all surprised if Cleverly pulled off another victory and maybe even by stoppage, if Bellew lets his emotions get the best of him and goes in all guns blazing he could find himself on the end of A LOT of combination shots later on from Cleverly. So my prediction is a Bellew win BUT I prefer Cleverly and would like to see him win.
I understand this fight isn’t for everyone, especially outside of the UK, people will say these two aren’t world class but I disagree, both have picked up victories over ranked contenders but fell short against two of the most exciting fighters on the planet in Kovalev and Stevenson. If you are a boxing fan, please tune into this fight which I believe is being shown free of charge around the world and for £16.95 on UK Sky Box Office. Eddie Hearn has put on a stacked undercard which has some exiting young fighters on the bill including Callum Smith stepping up to face Nikola Sjekloca 28-2-0, George Groves vs Denis ‘Momma’s boy’ Douglin 17-3-0, James Degale vs Marco Antonio Periban 20-2-1 and of cause Anthony Joshua faces off against veteran fighter Michael Sprott which may not last too long given AJ’s last performance. There are also fights involving, Scott Quigg, Jamie Macdonald and new Matchroom fighter Bradley Saunders.
Overall a good card, people will have their own opinion of whether it’s PPV worthy, the fact is, it is PPV and I for one will be buying it!
Comments are closed.