Cleverly vs. Kovalev

By Scott Gilfoid: Tony Bellew thinks former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly would have beaten undefeated Sergey Kovalev last Saturday night had Cleverly chosen to flash his hand speed, and use his mobility against the tough Russian. Bellew believes Cleverly fought the wrong game plan choosing not to move a lot, and box.

Bellew said on his social media site “I stand by my original judgment of Kovalev. He’s very strong, but look closely. His power covers many mistakes. He won’t be the champ long. I’m pretty sure they’ll have a rematch clause in there. If he [Cleverly] used his speed and movement, he would have won IMO [in my opinion]. You don’t bang with a banger.”

By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) thinks he won the 2nd round and was en route to winning the 3rd round in his fight against Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) last Saturday night when tragedy struck with Kovalev hurting Cleverly in the 3rd.

Kovalev ended up dropping Cleverly twice in the 3rd round, and then once more in the 4th round to get the TKO.

Cleverly said to the southwalesargus “I thought I’d just let Kovalev have the first round and I thought I edged the second round and started to win the 3rd round, and then I got caught.

By Scott Gilfoid: It seems that former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly’s 4th round TKO loss to the talented Russian knockout artist Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) last Saturday night in front of Cleverly’s own fans at the has negatively Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom has effected Cleverly more than what some people originally thought it would.

Cleverly, 26, is hinting that he could retire from boxing after his loss to Kovalev. Cleverly is going away on vacation, and he’s going to do a lot of soul searching to decision whether to continue fighting or wrap up his career and move onto other things. Cleverly has a math degree, and he can make a lot of money if he goes back to school to become an engineer. He doesn’t need boxing.

(Photo credit: Main Events) By Scott Gilfoid: Frank Warren, the promoter for former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s), hasn’t decided if they’ll look for a rematch with Russian KO artist Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) after Cleverly was blown apart in 4 rounds last Saturday night in front of his own loyal Welsh fans at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

There wasn’t a rematch clause in the contract, so Kovalev can move on if he chooses, but you’ve to figure that Cleverly can a rematch if Warren makes the decision to get Kovalev back to the UK.

It would be a team thing where Cleverly and Warren would both agree that the Kovalev rematch was the right thing to do.

Warren said to the Daily Mail “We’ll see what happens with regards to any rematch.

By Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) says he’s had tougher fights in his career than the easy 4 round annihilation of former WBO 175 lb. champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

Kovalev, 30, was expecting Cleverly to give him some trouble, but instead he turned out to be little more than a soft punching bag for him to land his big shots on for the short four round fight.

The only trouble Kovalev had was when he suffered a cut over his right eye from a head clash in the 2nd round. The cut didn’t slow Kovalev down a bit, though, and if anything, it made him really go after Cleverly with a vengeance.

By Scott Gilfoid: If you saw WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) get stopped tonight by Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KO’s) in the 4th round, you might be wondering why the referee Terry O’Connor didn’t officially stop the fight in the 3rd round after Cleverly had been knocked down twice.

Shortly after the second knockdown, it looked like O’Conner was in the act of stopping the fight, but then he let it go on. It seemed like an odd move, because it looked clearly like the referee was waiving off the fight, but then bell rung a second later, and the referee let the fight continue. It was very strange.

Thankfully, the referee not stopping the fight in the 3rd didn’t have any change in the outcome of the fight other than causing Cleverly to take a little more punishment in getting stopped a round later. But it was still unsettling to have the fight continued when the referee seemed to be stopping it. I guess referees can change their minds.