By Scott Gilfoid: In a move that appears to have done to try and give him some credibility in the United States, WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (24-0, 11 KO’s) will be facing little known American light heavyweight contender Ryan Coyne (21-0, 9 KO’s) on November 10th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Coyne, 30, is ranked #2 WBA, #10 WBC. However, he’s not well known in the U.S, and many of his wins have come against obscure opposition.
If Cleverly’s promoter specifically picked out Coyne thinking it would make it more interesting for Americans due to Coyne being an American, I think he misjudged the American people. If a fighter isn’t well known in the United States, it doesn’t matter if they come from the U.S, they’re still unknown and few people care about seeing them fight. That’s kind of the way it is in the U.S. It’s not a place where they automatically fall in lock step behind a fighter for patriotism reasons like in some countries.
I see this as another Cleverly vs. Tommy Karpency move by Cleverly and his team. Cleverly fought the American Karpency last February, and while Karpency was an American like Coyne, few people in the U.S cared about this fight. Karpency was just another easy opponent for Cleverly to beat. For Americans to care about seeing Cleverly fight another American, Cleverly has to fight someone that is actually well known, such as Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, or Tavoris Cloud. Americans would care about Cleverly one of those guys, not because they’re American but rather because they know these guys are. I still think Americans would be only mildly interested in a Cleverly fight against Hopkins, Dawson or Cloud. The reason being few people in the U.S know who Cleverly is, and would likely not be interested in seeing a fight involving him.
Coyne has a high ranking by the WBA, but having seen him fight a few times on Youtube, I see him as around the same level as Karpency and a few steps below former Cleverly opponents Karo Murat, Tony Bellew, and Danny McIntosh. Just because Coyne is unbeaten doesn’t mean much. If you look at who he’s faced in his six-year pro career it’s not surprising he’s unbeaten. To me, the southpaw Coyne looks really slow in terms of hand speed, and his reach seems to be limited as well. He appears to be an inside fighter but a slow one. I’d pick guys like Murat and McIntosh to easily beat him no problem.
I wonder Cleverly doesn’t step it up and start fighting better opposition? This is really sad match-up to me. Cleverly’s promoter might as well drag out Karpency and throw him out in the ring again because I see him giving a better fight than this Coyne guy.
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