By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (28-2, 14 KOs) will be back at 175 for his next fight against an opponent still to be determined on April 25th at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Cleverly was going to be fighting on April 11th, but the date has moved forward for him to fight on the possible Evgeny Gradovich vs. Lee Selby card on April 25th. The card obviously needs as many names as possible for it to be a big success, so it makes sense for Cleverly to have been put there.
Selby-Gradovich could be a real stinker if Selby loses the fight, and there’s nothing else to make the card a positive one.
Cleverly, 28, is moving back down to the light heavyweight division after losing a 12 round split decision at cruiserweight against Tony Bellew in their rematch last November at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. Cleverly fought in a listless manner, as if he was afraid to mix it up like he used to.
This could be remnants from his brutal beat down at the hands of Russian slugger Sergey Kovalev in August of 2013. Cleverly has looked gun-shy ever since that loss in standing and trading toe-to-toe with his opposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyKfZwYweTk
Cleverly made an ill-advised move up to the cruiserweight division after his loss to Kovalev, and it just seemed like a weird, wrong-headed move considering that the guys at cruiserweight can punch as hard as Kovalev.
Cleverly never did get to the quality in the cruiserweight division. Obviously, if Cleverly couldn’t even beat a flabby looking Bellew, who I don’t rate anywhere near as good as the cream of the division, then Cleverly simply didn’t belong in that weight class.
I suspect we’re going to see Bellew moving back down to light heavyweight after he eventually steps it up and gets hammed badly by a good cruiserweight. For Bellew’s sake, he needs to get it over with and face the top contenders like Rakhim Chakhkiev, Thabiso Mchunu, Ilunga Makabu, Ola Afolabi and Krzystof Wlodarczyk.
Once Bellew has lost to those guys, he’ll realize that he’s not cut out for the cruiserweight division, and he’ll then trim off the flab around his waist and move back down to light heavyweight. However, I think Bellew’s promoter Hearn is going to have him skip those top contenders all together and just throw him in with a cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Denis Lebedev, Grigory Drozd or Marco Huck. Either way, I see Bellew getting knocked out and sent back to light heavyweight.
It’s going to be awfully hard for Cleverly to find a place at light heavyweight, because the division is now better than during the time that he previously held a strap in this weight class. Cleverly obviously doesn’t match up with Sergey Kovalev, the WBA/WBO champion. Further, I don’t see Cleverly as having the power, speed or chin to hang with WBC champ Adonis Stevenson for WBA regular strap holder Jurgen Braehmer. I see both of those fighters knocking Cleverly out.
It’s not so bad for Cleverly if he just looks for interesting fights in the 175 pound division against beatable opposition. As long as he doesn’t have ambition to try and capture a world title at 175, I can see him making some good money in fighting guys like Isaac Chilemba, Lucian Bute or Bernard Hopkins. But Cleverly needs to stay away from contenders like Artur Beterbiev, Andrzej Fonfara and Eleider Alvarez. I see all three of those fighters beating him soundly.
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