Belts are a joke, aren't they? Fighter pulls out with injury, he's stripped because he's not popular. Anyway, at least there's a fight. I kind of hope Bellew wins.
yup. if it was a legitimate injury whoever 'wins' this belt is a fake strap holder im afraid to say but who cares. as long as its a great fight to watch, both guys can still move on up. you know, the way people can lose and still not be bums
I'd hate to be made Champion in such a way, feel sorry for Clev now. I'd rather be fighting for the vacant title.... the last thing he wants (if he loses) is to be the world champion that didn't win a world title fight. A bit like Alex Arthur.
Likewise, such an embarrassing way to claim a belt. Would have been much better having been put on the line as the vacant belt.
Its because of all this "interim" bull****. Braehmer pulls out again at short notice so the solution is always going to be less than ideal but surely it'd be better to match Cleverly with Bellew for the vacant title with the winner to defend against his mandatory within 90 days?
What an insane day that was yesterday. never known anything quite like it. twitter went into meltdown thanks to tony bellew and nathan cleverly. who'd have thought it?
This is ****ing awesome. I expect Cleverly to win a wide points decision but massive credit to Bellew for taking the fight on such short notice.
Whilst I fully expect clev to with and always have done, I am now a bellew fan for this fight. Big brave balls to quote vinny Jones in snatch. War bellew for taking this scrap...
I agree, I've always disliked it when someone gets just awarded a belt rather than at least a 'fight off'. It hurts the person involved, which is often very unfair considering they could well have won the belt anyway. Cleverly's going to get saddled with the paper champion tag by some quarters from this, which is sad.
Its a good fight regardless of the embarassing belt situation, to be honest the last 15 years have being one embarassing belt situation after another- **** world titles i'm just glad to see a decent fight.