Good post. I think Cleverly is what he is and i don't see him changing. I've seen him force his work in the pocket, give up certain advantages and get hit too easy to think it was a one off and a game plan to trade. His mind is writing cheques is body can't cash IMHO. He has the mentality of Calzaghe without having the attributes. The flaws i notice in him is the stationary head when he comes inside, the lack of defense, which the bootleg shoulder roll version he attempted won't make up for. He's a sucker for the uppercut and short counter hooks when he leans in and squares up and i think he might be susceptible to body shots once he faces an opponent who goes to work downstairs. He doesn't get out of his opponents line of attack and doesn't have the antipication of Joe Calzaghe nor the reflexes to not get hit, as a result he gets cought with the same shots. The training aspect is a good point. I think he does more conditioning work than technical (i maybe wrong but thats the impression i get). This maybe has something to do with his father being his trainer. Actually there's certain traits or consistant line of behaviour i've noticed in fighters trained by their fathers. To me they all seem to display a pretense of bravado...I don't know whether it's "trying to please the pops" type of attitude but there's a vibe that comes from fighters trained by their dads, they seem to have more emotion in the ring and sometimes thats detrimental depending on the fighters strengths.
I don't really disagree with anything (I liked Calzaghe the boxer too lol) except I think he WILL adapt - once he's been really hurt or loses a fight - and utilise a better defense and smarter boxing. He's only 23, unbeaten, and as you say, is still in a small family enviroment where he is big-fish. He has bags of confidence - yes, to the point of arrogance at times. It's not a bad thing for a young boxer really, he sure is a hungry fish, eye of the tiger and all that, but he has a long career and I think we will eventually see a more rounded boxer - I still think Nathan Cleverly is a prospect, not the finished article.
You might like this training vid: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiDNSh6zWUs[/ame] Bit of a gay promo vid, but a little insight too.
If Murat was more effective he could have finished Cleverly around the 5th/6th round. He looked gassed but managed to recover in the next couple of rounds. He needs to pace himself a bit better if he's going to step up the competition.
Jurgen or vacant title. A couple of defences as he is young and only just been able to 100% think about boxing. I see no reason why in 18 months he couldn't be unified if he is good enough.
There are a few other factors going on at the minute with Cleverly. One of them is that he hasn't yet fought properly at 'home' as there is no middle ground in Wales in terms of arena capacity between the relatively small CIA (roughly 5,000) and the Millennium Stadium (70,000+). So there is certainly a feeling that in going around the country he has felt the need to put on a 'show' at the various locations and give the fans something to shout about. This is allied to Warren's bills also falling further into the realms of ppv with competition within the stable for top billing and the level of future paydays. Don't think too much should be read into how he dealt with Murat as Murat never had the offensive variety to trouble him and Cleverly clearly felt he had the freedom to wear him down and attempt to try and please the viewers at the same time. He looks to have the tools to adapt although it was worrying that Powell and his father were giving him conflicting signals in the corner. Don't know whether he and his father had always decided to fight the whole fight in that manner but Powell was the one talking sense and he was being ignored. He may have probs against an effective counter puncher with the way his head gets pulled down throwing the right hand. In his favour though his speed in throwing it has greatly increased, especially noticeable from distance. Didn't see this level and speed of development coming from him after some early poor showings, and the pros certainly outwight the cons. More than anything he looks like he's a proper fighter who almost lkes a scrap more than using any of his advantages, so the key will be whether he gets his approach right against the top boys. If he does so then I'd be loathe to bet against him in this division at present.
He has the attributes to beat him and he could if he made the necessary improvements. But right now he would get destroyed by any of the top line light heavyweights. Heck, he would go life and death with the european level guys and people like Henry. Someone like old man Glen Johnson would stop him the way he fought Murat.
The way he fought on Saturday, I honestly think he would get annihilated. Given time to make improvements though, it could be a competitive bout.
I think people are selling the Murat win a little short, Murat has already beaten future WBA champ Campillo so to say there is no way Cleverly can fight like he did against Murat at world level is nonsense. You could say clev should box more in a Jim Watt get behind the jab make it easy for yourself stylee but, if Nathan did not come out of the traps so fast against Murat he would have faced a much stronger fighter down the stretch, the German was slowed down with those body assaults early doors and that is what won him the fight. The fighter who beat Murat on saturday looked like the best Light heavyweight in the world to me, Would do to Pascal what Froch did, Beats Hopkins on work rate with ease, Outlasts Glenn Johnson in a war, Beats cloud in a fight of the year bombs away spectacular, To much heart for Dawson, #1 for me, he just has to prove it.
When do we find out about if Jurgan goes to prison? I think Warren, Clev and whoever represents the German will try to get the fight made and the rest of the WBO top 10 hardly instil fear into me regarding how well Clev could do against them.
atsch Number 1 light heavy? C'mon Hooch stop smoking the devil's lettuce, mate. You say people are selling the Murat win short then go completely the opposite way and act like a pom pom waving cheer queen. Open your eyes...all people are doing is pointing out his flaws, he should not have been taking soo many shots against a very average at best guy like Murat. Cloud is nothing to right home about but he would absolutely destroy Nathan at this stage. Glen Johnson would have a field day. Beat Hopkins with ease? Would Nathan even beat Braehmer?
I'm aware people are only pointing out his flaws but my point is that everyone has flaws and cleverlys plan for the Murat fight was spot on, you say Murat is average but I disagree whole heartedly - why is Murat average?? is it possible cleverly made him look less than great with a world beating performance?? Murat would be a nightmare for any other Light Heavy FACT. Obviously he does not deserve to be considered no1 yet but he beats all the light heavys imo and it is a matter of time before he proves me correct. Braehmer is a harder fight than Hopkins for Clev or at least there is more chance of him losing to Braehmer because of his 1 punch KO power. What in gods name would Hopkins do with Nathan?? school him like Pavlik who was a middleweight and too scared to throw a punch?? no chance. Hopkins throws about three punches a round and Nathan would look rubbish but win by 6 rounds easy, thats why Pops would never fight a young hungry guy like Clev unless he had a big advantage in some way, like the Pavlik fight. I am a massive pom pom waving cheer queen in this regard, damn right and proud. If you cant get exited about a guy like Cleverly who can you get exited about?? the kid is quality and looks better every time he is stepped up. I have not been this exited about a UK fighter since Ricky Hattons WBU run and Nathan does not have have any of Hattons discipline concerns or Floyd Mayweather types around his weight class. Having said all that I do enjoy a touch of the devils lettuce:good