By William Mackay: The Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) vs. Toney Bellew (16-0, 10 KO’s) fight is expected to be announced tomorrow for October 15th at the Echo Arena. Promoter Frank Warren has scheduled a press conference and will no doubt be announcing the fight.

It’s a fight that is only appealing because Bellew still holds an unbeaten record at this time and has a bad blood with Cleverly from the recent past when they almost fought. However, in reality it’s a bad mismatch. Bellew is a level or two below Cleverly in talent and it’s going to become apparent as soon as the fists start flying.

This is a fight where the hype will far surpass the actual fight. Bellew will box, play it safe and look not to get hit. It seems like he’s changed his style after taking a pounding against journeyman Ovil McKenzie in their first fight last December. Although Bellew was able to stop McKenzie in the 8th round of that fight, he was knocked down twice.

Bellew was also knocked down in his fight before that against inexperienced Bob Ajisafe (9-2, 3 KO’s) in September 2010. Ajisafe isn’t considered a huge puncher, yet he had Bellew on the deck. All these knockdowns of Bellew suggest that his chin isn’t up to the mark, and that’s not a good sign going against a slugger like Cleverly.

The undercard of this fight could have some very interesting bout with James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) possibly challenging European Boxing Union (EBU) super middleweight champion Piotr Wilcewski for his title, and British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves fighting for the first time with his new promoter Warren vs. Kenny Anderson in a rematch. The DeGale-Wilcewski and Groves-Anderson II fights are still only a rumor at this stage, but hopefully they do wind up on this card because it will make it a much more interesting fight card with those bouts. The DeGale vs. Wilcewski fight would be better served being the main event with the Groves vs. Anderson II fight being a good co-main event and then the Cleverly vs. Bellew fight being the third fight on the card. That’s how I would do it.