***Cleverly vs Bellew Build Up To Battle Thread***

Ridiculous comments from Cleverly. How the **** can you even be hinting at talking about retirement when you've fought absolutely nobody and are not even anywhere near reaching your full potential? Nathan, you've fought a few European robots and Afrobums. Unless you do something absolutely remarkable in 6 fights these comments are horrible.

 

Bellew stoppage now out to 15/2 at Paddypower if anyone fancies the shock.

 

He's basically saying ive got ****ing no chance of getting beat imo.

 

I just don't think he's in it for the long haul, he wants to fast track to big money fights and then **** off. This is horrible news if it comes true, that's essentially only another 2 years! :-(

 

last poll I saw on here had tony winning ?

 

That doesn't look as ratty as Clev funny enough

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04C9lTODS2U[/ame]

 

excellent videos, cheers for posting.

as much as i like cleverely himself, his old man is a right knob-end isnt he.

little baldy fat twat, he's trying so hard to portray an image of toughness that he just looks like a tit really

 

I think Bellew’s got more than a decent chance in this one but in my mind it all depends on how he handles the occasion. He will get great support but I’m just hoping he doesn’t get distracted by it and actually follows a strict gameplan because if he does so, I can see him winning.

A lot of people on here think Bellew going to war with Cleverly and looking for toe-to-toe action is the right thing to do but I’d be inclined to disagree. Cleverly’s performance vs. Murat showed how physically strong he is and also how he thrives working at close quarters as it allows him to pepper his opponent with shots to head and body before moving away. With worries about Bellew’s punch resistance, getting caught cleanly on a regular basis to let his own shots go is inadvisable to me. Seeing the Mohammedi fight however should instruct Tony on what to do; a decent fighter prepared to show movement and vary the distance can cause Cleverly problems.

You have to favour Nathan to be better in this fight than that to be fair as this is also the biggest fight he’s ever had in his career never mind Bellew. But nevertheless there are weaknesses there for Bellew to exploit. Cleverly to me seems a very poor fighter on the back foot, his shots have little power as he doesn’t fully follow through with them and he doesn’t have the necessary reflexes in his head movement to avoid shots. On the other hand, he thrives vs. opponents who neglect their jab and want to trade so I’m hoping Tony resists the urge to do so.

It seems strange but I just think Tony has to go back to basics in this fight. To me he seems to have been confused about the style to adopt in recent fights; from looking a bit reckless vs Ajosafe and McKensie 1 to being overly cautious in the Ovill rematch, it just seems like he’s been thinking about things a bit too much. The most impressed I’ve been with him in that time is from the 3rd round on in the first Mckensie fight. After a shocking start, he got his head about him and did a very professional job IMO winning every round until the stoppage. His pressuring was more controlled, he let the jab go more often to set up attacks and was able to land more of his thunderous punches as a result. If he does similar from the start in this I fancy his chances because I think Tony has a good jab when he employs it and if that acts as the focal point of his attacks, he can keep Nathan on the back foot where he is less comfortable and allow for the full extension of his own straight right/left hook to give them the KO power.

Really excited for the fight now, similar to Groves/Degale, it should be an epic. I’m hoping Tony does the city proud, come on Bomber!!!!

 

Will be a fantastic back and forth battle for the first few rounds me thinks before Cleverley takes over and stops Bellew on his feet.

 

Great post! I'm not sure how Bellew's going to box on Saturday as his last 3 performances have all been different, but I think he does have the skills to beat Cleverly - just depends on how Bellew approaches it, and his mindset. My heart says he stops Cleverly....

If he loses, do you reckon he'll stick at 175lbs or consider moving up in weight?

 

The difference in class will become quite apparent after the first couple of rounds. Not sure why so many have picked Bellew.

Cleverly by stoppage 6-8.

 

In my humble opinion ... this fight will be interesting for a couple of rounds and then Cleverly takes over and wins fairly comfortably ..

All over within 8 rounds.