By Scott Gilfoid: I don’t know why a lot of the Brits are frothing at the mouth about the match-up between WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) and No. 13 ranked World Boxing Organization contender Tony Bellew (16-0, 10 KO’s) on October 15th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

I already know how it’s going to play out and end up.This is not going to be a tear up or whatever the Brits think it’s going to be. The fight is going to be one where Bellew stays on the outside as much as possible, using his jab and trying to get hit.

Bellew doesn’t have the workrate or the kind of power to just stand in front of Cleverly trade back and forth. He doesn’t have massive power, and since his workrate is limited, he’ll get beaten up if he stands his ground and actually tries to fight.

Bellew showed in his last fight against journeyman Ovil McKenzie how he’ll fight Cleverly by staying at a distance, jabbing and playing it safe. It’s going to be a stinker, and that’s putting it lightly.

Fans think Bellew is going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Cleverly in this fight, but that’s dead wrong. I think Bellew isn’t the same fighter after tasting the canvas twice against McKenzie in December last year. Although Bellew came back to get an 8th round stoppage, I think he didn’t like the experience and doesn’t want to get hit with anymore big right hands for a long time to come. The thing about Bellew is he doesn’t like pain, and he’ll back away rather than taste it. The only way he can win is if he slugs it out, but he won’t want to.

If he stands and tries to trade with Cleverly, Bellew will quickly get mowed down. The old chin isn’t strong enough to match his fighting style, and he doesn’t throw enough punches for him to beat a fighter like Cleverly, not that he’s really all that good. Cleverly is a good paper champion in my view, someone who would be destroyed by the likes of Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, Tavoris Cloud, Beibut Shumenov and Jean Pascal.