groundhog day for cleverly

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/14252995.stm

it looks like cleverly is likely to fight bellew next time round, following there near meet when bellew stepped in as a last minute replacement, only for tony not to make the weight. cleverly is a man who had to wait a while for his title shot against brahmer, then won it without throwing a punch. he then had a few opponents fall through and ended up with a less that satifactory opponent in Kuziemski who he stopped in 4. he has stated he wants to take on the best, and has faced critisism in the lack of quality he has faced, although lets be fair a WBO champion under warren its not unusual and is what we've come to expect.

cleverly is probably the least appreicated of the 4 world champions from the UK, and rightly so, even burns has got a win over martinez on his CV, whereas cleverly lacks the defining fight. i just wonder whether bellew is worthy of a title shot, he has only had 16 fights, 2 decent wins over mckensie, but other than that his CV is really quite poor. he was lackluster in his last fight and down twice in the fight before- both against mckensie.

what exactly does cleverly gain from this fight apart from an easy win? should he be pushing for bigger fights and even possible unifaction, or has he found his level and playing it save?

He probably cant secure a big fight Eddy, if he cant get one of the big names, then Bellew is the fight that gets Clev the most attention, I'd imagine he fancies the job aswell.

Not a surprise.

All I can see he gains from it is higher publicity on a British public front since its a all UK affair and even thats debatable. Other than that its just a easy payday that I'd be surprised if it went longer than 4 rounds, Cleverly loves to trade with his chin out and Bellew doesn't know what to do under pressure and will crumble the moment Cleverly applies any.

Was always going to be Bellew, said it as soon as he failed to make weight for the fight a while ago. Really hope Clev does not become another Warren WBO champion, always talking of fighting the best but with these fights never actually coming off. For me the truth is with Clev he has little choice, he is simply not ready for the top men at the weight. Hopkins would absolutely humiliate him. Is not the way it should be for champions but he is still a work in process so fully expect him to milk the title until he has improved greatly. Pity really because being a world champion should not be a marketing tool for a guy still learning his trade.

Trouble is a lot of "champions" are works in progress these days. Was supposed to be the case with Danny Jacobs , who was meant to pick up the trinket Martinez chucked away only to get blown out in 5 to some Russian unknown.

Think it's a good fight for Cleverly, also see him taking on Sillakh (spelling) in the near future. A couple of decent fights to get him ready before the recognised quartet of BHop, Pascal, Cloud and Dawson. Have to be honest I only see him being huimiliated against one of those 4. The other aren't that good in my opinion.

Pirog was hardly a unknown when he beat Jacobs, I actually had Pirog as favourite going into the fight. I do agree the fact that there are so many titles that to many fighters get to the supposed top before they are the finished article and in some cases quite a bit of.

I take it Bellew is with Warren which means he keeps the title no matter what.

looking at bellews record he has been more protected that cleverly, barring the 2 mckensie fight bellew was fighting 8-1 and 4-0 opponents last time out. he has only boxed 70 professional rounds in his career.

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=425328&cat=boxer

Okay but Pirog was still the underdog by most, especially as they fought in America (I think). Typical case of the Americans hyping up their men to high heaven and back.

Don't have so much of a problem with Cleverly being a work in progress and a few gimmy defences would be in order for the next couple of years, just really hope he doesn't stay doing that all his career though.

chad dawson is ranked by the WBO, i think he should fight maybe 2-3 fights times and challenge him, he doesnt want to get the reputation of been a stay at home fighter, especially a light heavy from wales, other wise even when he does step up his legacy will be damaged........ calzaghe anyone?

Yeah was in America was on the Marquez v Diaz II undercard. Really like Pirog and was praying about a year prior to that fight that McEwan didn't get him as he seemed to want. I like McEwan but he would have got a real lesson if that fight had been made as he wanted.

Speaking of McEwan interesting to see he's moved to the Billy Nelson gym so will be fighting across for the British title in the near future I'd imagine.

Think Pascal would be a fight that would make sense after Bellew. Is teak tough and a decent name. Also with Froch having stated he plans to move to light heavy further down the line can Clev beat Pascal before then (no given by any means) could set up a belting domestic fight for them both.

Clev needs a new coach. He has got the talent but his skills are still lacking. There are a lot of people on here who want to see him fail and thats fine I have no issues with that but as a fellow Welshman I dont wanna lose face on here just because his old man (who im not keen on) isnt training him to the best of his ability

Great news on Craig McEwan, be great to see him challenge for the british belt, not sure if Billy Nelson is the right man for him but i suppose he wants to stay in Scotland.

Could Clev stick to a game plan for large portions of a fight with Pascal though, as if he intends to beat the guy then he can't allow himself to stand and trade chin hanging out something he likes to do.

If he was to win that fight we'd most likely learn one of two things, that either he can stick to a plan not letting his ego rule his sense or that he's not just got a good chin but a excellent one.

if froch comes to lightheavy weight then cleverly is in trouble. froch has been in with some of the best names, has a solid chin and a cagey style, dont see how cleverly would deal with that- especially if he's only been used to fightign the bellews of this world

Steffan wrote:Clev needs a new coach. He has got the talent but his skills are still lacking. There are a lot of people on here who want to see him fail and thats fine I have no issues with that but as a fellow Welshman I dont wanna lose face on here just because his old man (who im not keen on) isnt training him to the best of his ability

he should go with enzo if thats viable, they used to train together anyway didnt they?

The Galveston Giant wrote:Great news on Craig McEwan, be great to see him challenge for the british belt, not sure if Billy Nelson is the right man for him but i suppose he wants to stay in Scotland.

Think its Billy Nelson is the only high profile option in Scotland and after the Lee defeat he wanted to build back up from a British level. I actually think McEwan could do quite well back over here much like Ashley Theophane has done since his return, plus you have some potential good matches with Barker/Macklin down the line if things go to plan.

Agree entirely with Steffan, Clev is in danger of wasting his considerable talents, if he continues to refuse to box to his strengths, I'm sure its nice an cosy at his Dads, but he needs someone to tell him were he is going wrong.

Agree with the suggestions that Cleverly should dump his old man. Cleverly used to box to his strengths and more defensively but since then Cleverly senior has turned him into a bit of a brawler. He needs to have the long slow talk to his pops and tell him it's gone as far as it can.

Thing is, they probably both think that if the Calzaghe's could do it.........

As the grammer police are out in force:

I meant "Calzaghes" (no apostrophe)

Super D Boon wrote:As the grammer police are out in force:

I meant "Calzaghes" (no apostrophe)

Grammar.

Damn it!

i thinc cleavealy is tha beste lite hevviwayt in tha woald and woud beet alll tha othar fiytars,

its srtagne taht poelpe can sitll tlel waht you wirte eevn wehn the wodrs are mxied up

hta'st rteu, od uyo nkow hwta mi yasgni onw

The Galveston Giant wrote:hta'st rteu, od uyo nkow hwta mi yasgni onw

Is that Scottish?

Thought it was Welsh but on the grounds you don't understand it Steffan would guess not.

The Galveston Giant wrote:hta'st rteu, od uyo nkow hwta mi yasgni onw

Galveston you got it wrong there. There is a phenomenon that as long as the first and last letters of the words are correct then the middle letters can be jumbled and people still understand eg:

Cevlelry is nwoehre naer raedy for the ohetr chpionams

The Galveston Giant wrote:hta'st rteu, od uyo nkow hwta mi yasgni onw

rowley wrote:Thought it was Welsh but on the grounds you don't understand it Steffan would guess not.

Letters like 'K' are not in the Welsh alphabet

Steffan wrote:Letters like 'K' are not in the Welsh alphabet

What other letter is 'like K', other than 'K'?

Steffan wrote:

The Galveston Giant wrote:hta'st rteu, od uyo nkow hwta mi yasgni onw

rowley wrote:Thought it was Welsh but on the grounds you don't understand it Steffan would guess not.

Letters like 'K' are not in the Welsh alphabet

Neither is x or z. j however is permissable although it's presence causes disdain amongst some old fuddy duddy purists and academics.

Scottrf wrote:

Steffan wrote:Letters like 'K' are not in the Welsh alphabet

What other letter is 'like K', other than 'K'?

Get back on topic you

Clev is gonna beat Bellew and shut that mouth up once and for all

Sorry lads, would appear I may have give you the impression I cared. Apologies, horrific misrepresentation of my views on the subject.

Hello



as eni1 sawn Boo?

Steffan wrote:Clev is gonna beat Bellew and shut that mouth up once and for all

Agreed. But unless he changes his ways his time as a champ is limited to a few more fights. That Kuziemsky stung him quite a bit in the third round when Clev had his chin in the air and that guy was a known light puncher with 5 or 6 kos in about 30 fights. If Bellew lands like that it could be all over. Let's hope not though as Cleverly is going to far flung places if he sorts it out.

i've got a feeling the build up to the fight and the press conference/weigh in's will be more entertaining in the actual fight.

Damn it 2pm gotta go back to the sh**!

Well done to Fwank for hyping this one up, but Bellew should be nowhere near a world title fight. Clev should win easily.

Jukebox Timebomb wrote:Well done to Fwank for hyping this one up, but Bellew should be nowhere near a world title fight. Clev should win easily.

exactly, it was 5 fights ago when bellew was boxing a 6 rounder against a 9-21-2 fighter.

To be fair Clev hasnt really earned his world title, which is probably why he cant get the big fights, Bellew will give him exposure, at least in the UK, and it will sell tickets. I just hope its in Liverpool for selfish reasons