L
Cleverly V.S Bel
ong before the first bell rings for this monthís
cruiserweight fight between Nathan Cleverly and Tony
Bellew, those observing will have had far more to consider
than is often the case in a routine rematch. The two were
bitter rivals when Cleverly was awarded a majority decision
victory when defending his WBO light heavyweight title
in their first fight in October 2011 and the two equally
remain bitter towards each other now. While it has to be
acknowledged that Bellew’s dislike of the Welshman still
appears stronger than Cleverlyís ever did for him & the
Liverpudlian maintains the then-world champion earned
his respect over the course of their first fight and then
almost immediately lost it by, to his mind, not returning it
in the post-fight press conference ñ the only other relevant
similarity is Liverpool’s Echo Arena as the venue.
The three judges that night, Dave Parris, Phil Edwards and
Terry O’ Connor respectively scored 117-112 and 116-113
for Cleverly and 114-114. Brawlsports, incidentally, made
Bellew a narrow winner but recognise it was a close fight.
The challenger made an exceptional start and built an early
lead before appearing to tire. His work-rate dropped and
Cleverly, a natural athlete with true stamina, capitalised to,
in two of the judgesí minds at least, deserve the win.
Going into that fight, Brawlsports made Cleverly a clear
favourite and felt that, while Bellew impressed early
12 BRAWL SPORTS DECEMBER 2014
“The challenger made an exceptional
start and built an early lead before
appearing to tire”
on, he showed his rival too much respect perhaps
aware of his power and made the fight closer than it
needed to be.The Welshman is still the more naturally
talented of the fighters but the doubts surrounding
him, which have accumulated since their first fight
ñ the finest result of Cleverly’s career and should not
and cannot be overlooked. After defeating Bellew,
Cleverly successfully defended his title against Tommy
Karpency, Shawn Hawk and Robin Krasniqi with
relative ease ñ none were realistically likely to test
him before running into Sergey Kovalev, a different
prospect entirely.
The heavy-handed Russian treated him with so little
respect he violently punched through him to force an
unquestionable stoppage in little over four rounds. The
referee that night, Terry
OConnor, even looked on the verge of rescuing Cleverly at the end of the third round before the bell sounded
and delayed the inevitable.Since that night, and largely
because of it, Kovalev is now one of the most feared
punchers in any division and could even end the career
of the great Bernard Hopkins when they fight for the