Nathan Cleverly v Ismayl Sillakh

How do people see Ismayl fitting into the light heavyweight landscape? We have Hopkins and Pascal fighting it out for the WBC title. Cleverly and Brahmer embroiled in this WBO saga. Shumenov is WBA champion. Then we have a few other contenders like Campillo, Henry, Erdei(maybe), and notably Cloud. Could he compete in this class?

What do you think is good/bad about him? IMO...

Good:
- Imposing ring presence, tall and well built at light heavy
- Fast hands
- Seems to carry pop
- Good punching form and balance for somebody that was a long-time amateur, something DeGale might want to take note of at times...
- Very accurate to head and body, variety
- Uses a strong jab, consistently, something Bellew and Clev might want to look at...?
- Mentally he's always well balanced, even against bums he realizes the virtues of being patient and staying in good habits. Again this is something Bellew perhaps has problems with.

Bad:
- Very tight at the waist, upright
- Tends to pull back from punches as a form of defence which is not advised
- Not the tightest of guards, not a problem as yet but a question mark particularly keeping in mind the above habit.

What say you...Real Deal? Fraud? Somewhere inbetween? Future world champ or will he fall at the first hurdle?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGFBdC9mmg[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DSYwiD0KOk[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXZSqXVUxtM[/ame]



(yes the thread title was a smokescreen)

 

****s sake lads

We've got several dozen better trainers than Anthony Farnell in here and I can't get your esteemed opinion. What is it...ain't I worth your time? :verysad

 

He's going to be my new hobby horse. Though it must be said the last one of them was Alexeev and he proceeded to get brutally sparked twice in a row thereafter

But the thing thats made me so confident about Sillakh is the great role model he has. He can't possibly fail

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Cleverly? Cleverly is even more open IMO and lacks this guys composure. Cleverly when he starts getting hit begins to make more fundamental errors rather than tightening things up. He also does not have the natural power of this fellow in my opinion. I only see one winner in that fight. I only really mentioned Clev so the thread would not be moved.

 

I kinda disagree about his flaws being too fundamental to change as well. Moving back from punches is definitely correctable. Simply rolling to the side more often will help him there. Thats just a bad habit, one Kessler never corrected but in the US that is the sort of thing that will be picked up. He's definitely upright, how well he can take a crack is going to be very important to his success as I don't ever get the impression he'll be too hard to find. He'll have to use his jab and power to make himself as difficult as possible to find but he's going to have to take them well. As long as he doesn't have an Alexeev eggy chin I think he will do just fine.

 

Can Cleverly fight going backwards himself? It seems unfair to criticize him for that in this matchup unless we're going to ask the same questions of Cleverly and I don't believe he can. I can't see any of Cleverly's opponents coming through the artillery this guy has so they're both pretty much 'on top' fighters as nobody has challenged them yet. Cleverly might be relentless, but he's also macho, open, and impatient. He himself is not a puncher and he's never faced a puncher which leaves several big question marks over him if he wants to fight in that manner. I think with this guys size, the offensive capability and power he has, it would be a whole different ball game to beating up on a midget with a reactive style like Murat. Murat was easy to overwhelm because he's reactive, he waits til you stop punching everytime and he's also predictable because you know he'll only punch when you stop and he still caught Clev.