*****. Like he's too precious to crack on at domestic level, rematch Bellew, still make some fair dosh without needing to jump in with any more beasts? Fine go do your maths.
I agree people were criticising his choice of opponents etc but his manager and promoter should have been street-wise enough to ignore it. They had plenty of time and plenty of chances to step up the quality of his opponents and failed to do so. They created a ticking time-bomb and the end result was Cleverly demanding a fight with an opponent he wasn't ready for. It's been a catalouge of errors after errors and the result is a heartbroken fighter at 26 contemplating his future away from the sport. It's sad and depressing.
[url]http://www.actuaries.org.uk/becoming-actuary/pages/what-can-actuary-earn[/url] Responsibility level Average basic salary (£) Chief actuary, senior partner £221,250+ Senior function head, practice director £134,343 Function head, practice head £110,747 Department manager, managing consultant £87,557 Section manager, senior consultant £81,239 Section leader, consultant £67,298 Senior actuary, junior consultant £59,836 Actuary £46,515 Student actuary £32,842 Given the amount of working hours involved I don't think it comes close in comparison, do you?
Na, no ones saying don't take on challenges but make sure the challenges are winnable. If you've fought a close fight with bellew who's in the same boat as cleverly, why fight a beast that your not ready for becase everyone says you should. It was clear to see he wasn't ready for it. Most people knew that. Think we've got to be realistic , we can say he's a world champion but they're not what they were and haven't been for a long time. Not even sure how many belts there are anymore, he wasn't claiming to be the best in the division. Cleverly was ready for a step up just not that far of a step up than what he's been fighting. We knew that but we still ask for him to challenge guys that will beat him handily at this point...because he's got a belt and claims to be a world champion which he was...still no point taking on guys levels above if you dont have to, keep getting experience, keep ticking away, keep slowly upping the level until you've got a realistic chance of winning.
This should be a decent lesson to Bellew prrior to fighting Stevenson. I always felt Clev would struggle at the top level due to his lack of power and his poor footwork. Really think if he could sort his feet out it would help him a lot. Aside from the fact it would give him a better base and more time to plant (thus finding the power), it would also make him less easy to nail. He's never going to be a defensive genius but it just seems to me he has some basic fundamentals that he could easily improve.
No its because most old fighters didnt have the options that Cleverly has, hasnt he a maths degree or accounting i seriously doubt many fighters from the old days had anything like that, it was either box or do a manual labor job, either way Nathan will most likely have a decent job, most box because they want to not out of necessity
Great post. I'm not sure they had much of a chance of fights with the top five light-heavies though, and I'd only take Kovalev and Stevenson to blast Clev out.
He's on the Boxing Hour tonight. I'm sure that Deidre from Romford live via satellite/phone will give him a tougher time than Bunce does.
He could have fought the same level of opponents as he had before and sold out the halls and making decent money. He could have remained champ and got all the sponsorship, TV work etc, made a lot of money and got out of the sport unhurt and undefeated in two\three years time. Instead someone within the team got the idea to put him in with probably the biggest risk out there, Kovalev was all wrong for him. If he got like 4-5 times the purse of the normal world title fights, then it makes sense. Cleverly has to live with the decision to fight Kovalev. Knowing and finding your weakness and limits in life are important. He needs to take a break, but not too long, get back in the gym and try and work out if he wants to stay in boxing for a couple of years and make some decent money. He could fight Bellew again, he could fight at Euro level, he could fight Enzo. He has options, perhaps fight at Supermiddleweight instead? I really think Cleverly wasn't a bad fighter, maybe he was overconfident. One thing I'm sure of, he can mix it with the rest of the Light Heavyweights. Kovalev would ruin most people at the moment. Cleverly was the first and only one of the champs so far to step up and let Kovalev work him over.