Cleverly looks horrible and gets rocked by Kuziemski

By Boxing News - 05/21/2011 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) defeated challenger Aleksy Kuziemski (21-3, 5 KOs) by a quick stoppage in the 4th round on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. The stoppage came after Kuziemski was cut over the left eye in the 4th. The referee pulled the trigger quickly rather than letting the fight go on.

What makes this seem all the more strange was that Cleverly had been badly hurt in the previous round after getting tagged by a huge left hand from Kuziemski. Cleverly was staggered by the shot, and it didn’t look good for him at that point. The cut stoppage in the 4th round may have come just in time for Cleverly, because who knows what would have happened if Kuziemski had more time to land shots and take Cleverly out of there.

All in all, a terrible performance by Cleverly. This win seemed to expose Cleverly’s lack of defense and a questionable chin rather than show that Cleverly is the real deal and ready to move on to bigger and better things. The thing is Kuziemski isn’t even considered a hard puncher, yet he was able to royally rock Cleverly.

This is the second fight in a row where Cleverly has taken some nasty head shots and I worry about the guy’s future. I can’t see him going much beyond guys like Kuziemski before he starts getting knocked out left and right. I’d hate to have seen what Kuziemski would have done to Cleverly had the referee not hastily stopped the fight due to the cut.



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