By Scott Gilfoid: The October 15th fight card headed by Nathan Cleverly vs. fringe contender Tony Bellew finally got some quality added to it with the addition of the super middleweight clash between EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilcewski (29-1, 10 KO’s) vs. challenger James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

As of now, these are the only two fights on the card but there obviously will be additional ones, perhaps George Groves vs. Kenny Anderson II. But for now, DeGale-Wilcewski and Cleverly-Bellew are the only fights scheduled. Billy Joe Saunders, Paul Smith, Joe Selkirk, Rocky Fielding and Liam Smith are supposed to be on the undercard. I’m interested in seeing Selkirk, but completed bored with the idea of seeing Liam & Paul Smith, Fielding and Saunders. I don’t see them as future world champions, so it’s boring.

The Cleverly vs. Bellew fights doesn’t interest me at all. It actually makes my stomach turn and feel queasy. I hate mismatches, especially ones that are mismatches going into the fight. Bellew has exactly zero to deserve fighting for a title other facing journeyman, and 2nd and 3rd tier local domestic fighters.

It’s never a good idea to throw a limited fighter into a title fight unless they’ve proven themselves first and Bellew has certainly not in my view. Anyway, hopefully the management move the Cleverly-Bellew fight to one of the first fights of the night, so that the good stuff like DeGale-Wilcewski can come on last. That way boxing fans can leave the arena with a good feeling about the night instead of walking out in a rage over the mismatch in the main event.

DeGale is going to win this fight no doubt, and it’s not going to be competitive. DeGale has faced better guys than the light hitting Wilcewski before, and this is going to be a pretty easy one for him. However, I do think it’s still going to be a much better fight than the Cleverly-Bellew fight because Wilcewski is actually a good fighter and can do a lot of things in the ring. He’s not limited to just slugging or roughhouse moves. He’s a champion for a reason – he’s got some talent.

DeGale lost his last to George Groves, but it was a controversial decision based more on the likes of the judges than on what actually transpired in the ring. DeGale landed the harder shots all throughout the fight, got the better of Groves during basically all the exchanges, landed the more power shots and dominated the fight from the 5th round on.

I had DeGale winning by four rounds, and thought it was a joke of a decision. However, it was a blessing that DeGale lost the fight because it give him the head-up that he needs to be more aggressive to really go after fighters that like to run and spoil the way that Groves did on that night. DeGale is ready to beat a runner now, and he won’t be taken by surprise if Wilcewski decides to run all around the ring like Groves did.