Andre Ward vs. Nathan Cleverly possible for July 30

By Boxing News - 05/27/2016 - Comments

cleverly444

By Jeff Aranow: Former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) is looking for a tune-up opponent for his next fight on July 30, and former WBO 175lb champion Nathan Cleverly (29-3, 15 KOs) is one of the leading names that is being discussed, according to Dan Rafael.

Ward needs a tune-up to get him ready for his November fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Cleverly isn’t a big puncher and is nothing like Kovalev.

If Ward wants an opponent that will get him ready for Kovalev, then he needs another opponent that has better power than Cleverly. Ward would be better off facing someone like Eleider Alvarez rather than Cleverly. Even Andrazej Fonfara would be better than Cleverly.

Ward vs. Cleverly would have been a good fight over three years ago before Cleverly started getting beaten on a frequent basis. For the fight to happen now, it doesn’t make sense.

“One prominent name that has come up as a possible July 30 opponent for @andreward is former 175 titlist @NathanClev. #boxing,” said Dan Rafael.

Ward, 32, needs an opponent picked out as soon as possible so that the fight card be marketed to the boxing public. If Cleverly is going to be the guy Ward fights, then it’s really going to need to be marketed in a big way because this is a considerable step down for Ward from his last opponent Sullivan Barrera. Ward beat him by a 12 round unanimous last March in Oakland, California.

Cleverly, 29, has lost two out of his last three fights, and he’s coming off a 12 round unanimous decision loss to Andrzej Fonfara last October. It was a competitive fight, but Cleverly didn’t have enough punching power to deal with Fonfara’s heavier shots.

It was a major accomplishment that Cleverly was able to go the distance with Fonfara rather than getting knocked out. Clevery was also beaten by Tony Bellew in November 2014 by a 12 round split decision in their second fight together. It was uninspiring performance from Cleverly, who fought like he was trying not to get knocked out. The fight took place at cruiserweight. Cleverly thought he could rebuild his career in that weight class after a loss to Sergey Kovalev.

Cleverly’s run of bad luck began in August 2013, when he was stopped in the 4th round by Sergey Kovalev. Cleverly was knocked down twice in the in the 3rd. The fight probably should have been stopped in the 3rd round when referee Terry O’Connor helped a badly hurt Cleverly back to his corner after he’d been knocked down by Kovalev in the final seconds of the round.