Is Cleverly the dumbest Maths Degree graduate ever?

This a win win for him ether way.
1) he is taking on one of the two biggest punchers at 175. If he beats Kovalev he will more then likely be in the drivers seat on any future fights that is including B-hop.
Lets not forget Cleverly is a excellent boxer he could use his boxing skill along with his reach to out box Kovalev.

2) If he loses and that is if . It still makes him marketable as he will have shown that he will take on all comers and one lost against a presumably good fighter should not hurt him.
second we know Cleverly can box but we have yet to see if Kovalev can box for 12 rounds if his opponent does not lay down right away after taking his shots or out boxes him altogether.

Ether way this is an excellent fight much respect for both fighters, this is by no means a guarantee win for ether fighter.

 

I'm a big Kovalev fan and I'm expecting him to win, but Clevs intelligence or lack thereof almost certainly has nothing to do with fight selection.

There's several factors here.

1 HBO seem to be offering a lot of $s.

2 Cleverly has received a lot of criticism for not having faced tougher opposition

3 Braehmer, Shumenov are not available. Cloud vs Stevenson, Bute vs Pascal already made. Hopkins probably prefers Murat and anyway has no reason to fight Clev. Who else is there who'd be perceived a step up for Clev?

Big Frank W decides the fights, not Clev - although I'd hope he has some input. In addition it seems FW and/or Clev believe a win might help him penetrate the US market (it won't unfortunately) but also that a loss probably wouldn't be disasterous since Clev will remain a good domestic draw (which is all he already is) and is young enough to probably have another shot.

In short, they're getting well paid for a risk they'd have to take at some point anyway.

 

Clev must really believe he can beat Kovalev, otherwise he wouldn't have offered him a fight

that said, I hope for Clev's sake he has a plan B, because he will not be able to avoid Kovalev's power once he realises he can't keep the Russian off him with his feather-loaded gloves

 

Cleverly UD12 :deal

 

Agreed. In my above post I also wasn't trying to imply that it wasn't a close or competitive fight, specially since we've yet to see the best of each fighter, and each brings something the other hasn't encountered before. I favour Kovalev, but his stamina into the later rounds is absolutely an unknown, equally Clevs ability to impose his own fight on a skilled and aggressive puncher is unproven.

 

Dumb?

The fight is in Wales.
The fight is on HBO(USA exposure)
The fight is probably the hardest challenge in the division so when he does win there's little doubt who's the man in this division.
The fight also shuts up people saying he ducks the best people in the division. To me Cleverly was already the best. Kovalev IS the biggest challenge out there.

 

A young boxer is willing to fight a dangerous opponent who he could have easily avoided and you are complaining?

Man stfu

 

I have a feeling this will be similar to Arakawa v Figueroa. that's just me though.

 

He only got a 2:2.
My cat could get one of them

 

Cleverly does not have the power to keep Kovalev off him. I tell you.........Cleverly is underestimating Kovalev. He thinks that Kovalev can't fight, has zero stamina, can't hit him, has a weak chin and like his other opponents will not fight back.

 

This is the primary reason. I also believe that it qualifies as a mandatory defense.

 

I think Cleverly opened as a slight betting favorite. These fights are so confusing to me when I see one guy with basically all the stylistic advantages (Kovalev), yet the wise guys set the betting line in favor of the other guy.

Whenever I encounter these sure things they invaribly turn out not to be the case. The wise guys sure as Hell know more about setting lines than I do, soooo....

 

Maybe because he actually does want to earn respect and fight the best -- which he is doing for me in fighting a man everybody fears as a 175lb beast. Props to him. No need to cherry-pick the many beatable Euros at Light Heavyweight. Being a second tier championship level boxer -- he knows he MUST step up. No choices.

We'll see.... this is a damn risky fight, though. The Welshman is no favorite.

 

Don't know about "BEFORE" the fight but after the fight Cleverly might have brain damage!!!!!!!