Prediction: Kovalev by brutal 4th round KO over Cleverly

By Boxing News - 08/17/2013 - Comments

cleverly44By Scott Gilfoid: I believe there will be blood tonight, and it’s not going to be coming from unbeaten #2 WBO, Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19 KO’s) in his fight against WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

Cleverly has gotten by up until now by walking down his less than impressive opposition with his ability to take their best punches, and firing back with his own. Cleverly has won his fights by throwing more shots than his opponents, and in the case where he’s gotten stoppages, it’s been against weak opposition. Tonight, Cleverly’s not going to be facing a weak opponent, and I think he’s going to get knocked out cold when he steps inside the ring to face Kovalev.

The problem you have with fighters that win fights by taking their opponents’ best shots, and beating them by outworking them is that eventually when they face a fighter that has huge, huge power, they get knocked out cold. A human body can only take so much punishment before it falls apart when nailed on the chin.

Cleverly’s fighting style is that of a plodder, and he just takes too much punishment for his own good. He’s picked the wrong guy to be taking punishment against in Kovalev, and I don’t believe Cleverly’s going to be able to take the kind of punishment that Kovalev will be dishing out tonight.

The only way that Cleverly wins this fight is if he can take Kovalev’s monster shots for 12 rounds, and somehow the judges decide that Cleverly’s shots were more meaningful.

I don’t know how any of the judges could see Cleverly’s punches being more meaningful than Kovalev, because they’re going to be a lot weaker than his. But you know the old saying that the home fighter starts off the fight already up by 4 rounds, so it’s possible that Cleverly could win a decision in theory, albeit a controversial decision. But that would really create stink if Cleverly wins like that, so I’m hoping the judges pick the right guy in this fight, because it would be a black eye for the sport if Kovalev dominates all 12 ounds of the fight, but still loses.



Comments are closed.