Regarding your MMA quote, i was going to make a thread about that mate ;-) It seem's as if 2-3 losses in Boxing = End of the road.
You've got a real fixation with bums and bumming...see a shrink. If Bellew loses he goes back to the drawing board and discusses the options with his trainer. Probably a move up to cruiser dependent on the nature of the defeat. If Clev loses I haven't a clue how he'll react.
Does my head in. Its like people just accept the fighter, his style, his limitations and his strong points. Look at Khan! Look at Pacquiaou! Even Corrales and Cotto greatly improved from moving up in weight. Look at Henry Armstrongs early career. Even someone like Dominic Guinn lost his first 30 amateur fights but improved alot. There are SO many changes that a boxer can do to become better. How long they train for, who is their coach, their style, their skills, their S&C etc etc In MMA, fighters are continously re-assessing themself and evolving but in boxing the 0 goes and he is a dud. He loses a couple more and he is finished. In boxing they always mention the complete record. In MMA, they talk about win streaks. This is because evolving is a big thing in MMA. I would go as far as saying 99.9% are not fufilling even 90% of their potential. I would only say that fighters like Donaire, Floyd and Pac are fufilling their potential. Paul Williams was on a hot streak, he lost and he looks human. Everyone is down on him. Williams has some ****ing horrible technique and who knows about his coaching and S&C. There are changes he could make that could potentially make him top P4P! It winds me up. People hate on Khan and DeGale BUT I'm glad Khan has improved and I'm glad DeGale hasn't gone into hiding but is coming back into a European title shot. All that should happen to Bellew is he fights Clev and if he loses he drops back down a class to domestic/European, improves his game and steps up again. Loses, steps down, changes and up again. Wins, steps up, improves (via experience) and on again. It's a clear system that should be on loop for your entire career until you decide to call it a day.
Bellew wouldn’t be hurt too much from the loss. He is expected to get TKOed or dominated by a wide points loss anyways, so if either really follows through, he has a lot of opportunity to become a champion in the future. I would see him defending the Commonwealth once or twice and then go after Gutknecht or whoever is the European champ at that time. And then he can continue working his way up the ladder in conventional fashion.