By William Mackay: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) and number #13 ranked World Boxing Organization contender Tony Bellew 16-0, 10 KO’s) are being talked about for a fight on October 29th at the Echo Arena. The fight will be the 24-year-old Cleverly’s second title defense and his second fairly easy fight. Bellew, 28, is a limited slugger with a questionable chin and not impressive boxing skills.

Bellew likes to slug but his chin makes it dangerous for him because he seems susceptible to getting hurt when hit hard. This is fight for local consumption only, as few boxing fans will care about it outside of the UK. Hopefully, Cleverly will start stepping it up after this fight because he’s got to take on some better fighters.

But with the limited opposition that the WBO have ranked in the top 5, Cleverly will probably be able to hang onto the WBO title another three years before he finally faces someone that can beat him. The fighters listed in the top five are all guys that Cleverly can handle. It’s less of the case in the WBC rankings with Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal ranked #1 and #2, both of which are probably good enough to soundly beat Cleverly. It’s good thing they’re not ranked in the WBO, because that makes milking the WBO title easier for Cleverly.

October 29th is a terrible date for the Cleverly-Bellew fight, because on the same night WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch fights WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward in the Super Six finals on Showtime. The fight will also be shown on Sky, and it’s hard to see fans being very interested in seeing Cleverly take on another easy mark. Like I said, hopefully Cleverly steps it up after this fight it’s getting boring already seeing him beat over-matched opposition.