Nathan Cleverly

Bloody hell mate, where you been?

 

Your comments appear to be seasoned with sarcasm. :good

 

Cleaned up the Commonwealth, British and Euro belts while he was still basically a part-time
fighter studying at university. Now training full time and in his last fight looked really good. A very athletic fighter with good hand speed and combinations.

Pretty much a take the middle of the ring and throw kind of fighter, he'll rarely be in a dull round never mind a dull fight.

 

:ban1

 

:yep

 

I presume your from the States??

Cleverly started his career at a very young age and wasn't really thought of as a top prospect after his first few fights. He looks talanted enough but seemed to lack power. He had some decent wins early on, most noteably against Tony Quigley who went on to become a British champion. He was being trained by Enzo Calzaghe and was the main sparring partner for Joe. Apparently they boxed over 500 rounds before Cleverly's 21st birthday. I remember he looked awful on the Calzaghe vs Hopkins undercard.

After Warren (his promoter) and Calzaghe split Cleverly left team calzaghe and started training with his dad Vince Cleverly. He was rewarded for his loyalty by Warren with a commonwealth title shot agaisnt durabvle vetran Tony Oakey. It was seen as a 50-50 fight many tipped Oakey to win. Clev won a close decision in a great performance, it was his coming out party. Cleverly then put together a few KO wins agaisnt limited fighters to build up his name.

From there on he has just pushed on and done incredibally well. He has stepped up his competition every fight and been up to the task every time. He has done what Brits call "the traditional route" which means winning Commonwealth, British and European titles before moving onto world level.

In the years following him leaving the calzaghe gym we have heard allot of stories about his time in the gym. He was used as a sparring partner by the World level fighters in the gym like Calzaghe, Enzo Macceranelli and Gary Lockett and he probably wasnt ready to be sparring such expirienced fighters at such a young age and early part of his career. it was obviously valuable expirience but it may have been to much to soon. He was also being held down at super middleweight to help Joe make weight and not be to big for him in sparring. This explains some of his early poor performances as he may have left to much in the gym.

His last fight was agaisnt Karo Murat who was and probably still is a top 15 light heavy. Murat was undefeated but Cleverly bossed him and bullied him the whole fight and eventually there was a referee stoppage. That fight was a final eliminator for the WBO title, and he is hoping to meet champio Jurgen Braehmer in December.

Cleverlys style is very entertaining. He relies of his speed and natural stanima to win fights. Wears down fighters with accumilation of punches rather than massive shots. Simular to Calzaghe in his early days before the hand injurys. His defense can be suspect but he seems to have a very good chin. He has also shown the ability to adapt to different styles and stick to a gameplan.

He also has a good story. He is a very smart young guy and recently got a degree in Maths from Cardiff which is a top university. The Murat fight was his first as a full tiem fighter. He is extremly confident, could be percieved as arrogance but I think a top fighter needs that and he is still young 23 I think.

If he wins the WBO agaisnt Braehmer I wouldnt push him into a unifacation. Win a couple of defences and build his name more in the UK before taking on the likes of Cloud, Dawson, Pascal but he is way ahead of where they were at his age.

 

wow

 

Lost to Vegas, beat some afrobums, a fat Quigley, past it domestic fighters, a crude puncher in McIntosh, a shot Brancalion and a overrated Murat.

Yep, I think that makes his win over Billy Boyle his best one yet :yep

 

YouTube is your friend...

 

We're british and therefore the most sarcastic race on earth (apart from the Bratislavians but they can go **** themselves!) and just asume everyone else is. Or not. Honestly sometimes it gets a little confusing.:think