By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (29-2, 15 KOs) will be returning to the 175lb in failure when he faces #2 WBC, #3 WBA, #5 WBO, #6 IBF Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16 KOs) in a 12 round fight on October 16th at the UIC Pavilion, in Chicago, Illinois. Cleverly, 28, attempted to make a go of it at cruiserweight, but after facing a few weak cruiserweights, he was beaten by fringe contender Tony Bellew by a close 12 round decision last November.
Cleverly saw the writing on the wall after that fight and did the wise thing in moving back down to light heavyweight. Bellew should have seen the writing on the wall as well from that fight, because he clearly doesn’t belong at cruiserweight either.
Bellew can stick it out long enough to get a world title fight, but I see him getting knocked cold when that time comes, and he’ll wind up right where Cleverly is at right now in trying to restart his career at 175.
“This is a major platform for me to prove that I am more than capable of becoming world champion again,” #12 WBC Cleverly said via skysports.com. “If I beat Fonfara it’s a doorway fight to the world title and establishing myself as one of the best light heavyweights once again.”
First of all, I don’t see Cleverly beating Fonfara. No way do I see Cleverly being able to handle the talent that Fonfara has going for him in this fight. This is going to be an ugly fight for Cleverly with him likely getting knocked out by Fonfara and knocked out quickly. Secondly, even if Cleverly were to beat Fonfara, he’s still going nowhere because he can beat Juergen Braehmer, Adonis Stevenson and Sergy Kovalev.
Cleverly and his promoter Eddie Hearn are wisely targeting the fighter that many boxing fans see as the paper champion of the group Baehmer. There’s no way that Hearn would be crazy enough to have Cleverly return to the 175lb division to target Kovalev or Stevenson, because he wouldn’t stand a chance against either of those talents.
It would be a massacre with them destroying Cleverly in lightning fashion. Cleverly was already knocked out in the 4th round by Kovalev in 2013, and I could see the same thing happening in a rematch only it would likely be much faster the second time around.
“Fonfara is a good fighter. He’s tall, has power and has moved up through the levels in his career,” Cleverly said. “I am looking forward to coming over to Chicago and I am very confident that our styles will blend well for a really exciting fight.”
I respect Cleverly for taking the fight against Fonfara because he could have just as easily ducked the fight and gone in another direction like a lot of fighters would have if they were in a similar position. But if Cleverly can’t beat the likes of Fonfara, then he has no business fighting in the 175lb division, because he won’t go far against the likes of Braehmer or Artur Beterbiev. You don’t even need to talk about Stevenson or Kovalev. Braehmer and Fonfara are good enough fighters to give Cleverly more than he can handle.
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