this fight is being talked up, britsh and commnwelth champs, both fighting tomorow night. personally i dont see it happen. warren is building a decent name in cleverly and francis is ranked in the top 5 by the WBO (somehow). i rate francis and cleverly, think both have the ability/potential to be a belt holder. what would happen if they meet this year?
Yes he looked quality years back. He was at Super Middle and were it not for a string of shoulder injuries I have no doubt he would have been a world champion. He was the only man to stop David Starie, which both Calzaghe and Reid failed to do, and he had good hand speed, a nice jab and true KO power. Real waste of talent, but most of it not his fault, you can't do much about being injury prone.
clev only seems to be fighting blown up super middleweights from africa,look ath therre records and you will see .
Clev likes fighting afrobums. Shame Oakey got the fight at short notice, sure it would have done both fighters alot more service if Oakey had had time to prepar and come in in decent shape. At the moment I would pick Francis to stop Clev pretty easy. rancis still shows glimpses of pure quality even though his arm is ****ed. Clev may become an ok domestic fighter but he is not at the level his title warrants.
Cleverly's a future world champion lads mark my words! Ok his power although getting better is never gonna be his strongest attribute but he is a skilled chap. As for the opponents, we all know Frank Warren's style, it's a shame that he nabs all the decent young prospects.
I doubt he will even get to WBU standard. He has only beaten duds and very late notice subs from Africa. Oakey deserves a rematch with a decent amount of time to get himself fit.
Cleverly has only had 14 fights, yes 14, and he's just managed to win a belt, yet some people are pulling his record apart and questioning the standard of his opponents. Unbelievable.
He came in as a late sub if I remember right and looked totaly out of shape even compared to how he looks this week in preparation for his prizefighter spot. Oakey had also just lost his belt and should not have been back in a ring so quick. But like you said Warren knows what he is doing and got his young talented fighter the right fight at the right time to make him look good but not to test him. The Commonwealth belt was once a good belt but recently it has dropped so low it makes most boxing fans cringe. Most of the champs are guys who are not good enough to compete for a genuine domestic belt and the opponents put in place are usually also rans from way down the domestic rankings or un heard of poor afrobums. Even the English title at light heavy carries more inportance at the moment and we can see 8 guys in the next prizefighter tourny that are better equiped to challenge for the belt than the guys Clev has been and will be facing.
Typical British mentality mate. We pull apart our most exciting prospects as well as our world champions. Sad but true.
Fair enough mate, you're entitled to your opinion, but I strongly disagree. Time will tell who's right/wrong.