This, coupled with his decision to move up to
cruiserweight, Cleverly is conceding the exceptional
physical advantages he had at light heavyweight and
rarely appeared to truly struggle to make the 175lbs
limit ñ means his hunger can only be questioned.
Cleverly was clearly big for a light heavyweight, and
potentially still could be. Kovalev aside and itís unlikely
thereís anyone fighting at 175lbs who could cleanly
take the Russianís punches and go the distance ñ his
punch resistance was proven, and he could sustain a
high work-rate. His six rounds ñ over two fights ñ so
far as a cruiserweight have taught us very little about
his transition into the 200lb, or 14st 4lbs, division.
Judging by the weight difference only, those additional
25lbs make it the most significant leap in boxing,
even for someone who made his professional debut
“Both of h cru
is
iserweight oppo
nents,
Shawn Corbi a
n nd Aleja
ndro Valori,
did li tle more t an
t
h
boost h c
is onfidence”
as a welterweight. By Cleverlyís own admission, it’s
likely he has sacrificed a degree of his speed and workrate valuable strengths by moving up. Both of his
cruiserweight opponents, Shawn Corbin and Alejandro
Valori, did little more than
boost his confidence, which is relevant because it
suggests Matchroom shared the concerns of those ñ
Brawlsports included who suspected Cleverly may never
14 BRAWL SPORTS DECEMBER 2014
recover from the beating he took from Kovalev.Neither
Brudov or Dos Santos are contenders, but the former
at least took Bellew into the 12th round, an experience
from which he should benefit. Both fights also showed
Bellew to have power in his new division: he scored
knockdowns in each. Bellew, who began working with
Matchroom after losing to Cleverly, also replaced his
long-time trainer Mick McAllister with the proven
Dave Coldwell ñ incidentally also a promoter and
manager, and who led Ryan Rhodes to a world-title
challenge against Saul Alvarez in 2011 after his defeat
by Stevenson.
As with Wilson and Cleverly, however, it remains too
early to judge the effectiveness of this move.
Yet if the phy