Nathan Cleverly: Clev The Brainy Light Heavyweight Machine Gunner Of The Cefn Fforest

Nathan Cleverly is a 6'2 28 year old Light Heavyweight with a 29-3 15 KO's 1 KO loss. Born in Caerphilly, Wales, United Kingdom and fighting out of Cefn Fforest, Wales, United Kingdom. Nathan one of the smartest fighters in the sport, he's a graduate from Cardiff University with a Bachelor Of Science degree in Mathematics. Before he became known as the KO4Clev punchline on Boxing forums, Nathan Cleverly seemed destined to be one of the future kings of the Light Heavyweight division, and I had very high hopes for him. He was trained by Enzo Calzaghe early in his career before leaving to train with his own father, and seemed to have all the makings of being the next Pride Of Wales, obviously Enzo left his mark since stylistically he bears many similarities with Joe, which greatly appealed to me since Joe is one of my favorites boxers. He was on a roll in England and built himself up a very impressive resume at the time with solid wins over Nadjib Mohammedi, Robin Krasniqi, Karo Murat, Tommy Karpency and his biggest win over fellow unbeaten Brit Tony Bellew. He was being primed to be the next opponent of Bernard Hopkins, until BHop chose to go in another direction and fight Murat instead, how unfortunate and ultimately fateful for Clev.:? I knew from the moment the match was announced Cleverly had no chance, because I was a big Kovalev fanboy back then too. And of course what happened is exactly what I thought would happen, he got Krushed in 4. And unfortunately as it is now days the moment you lose you are automatically written off as a bum, and knowing what you all know now about Kovalev, there was zero shame in Clev losing to Kovalev by KO and I think he's greatly deserving of a reappraisal and has a lot left to offer the sport of Boxing before he hangs up his gloves.

Instead of staying at LHW he made the very bad decision in moving up to Cruiserweight and he looked sluggish and lost an ugly SD to Bellew in their rematch, he looked to be a shot fighter with nothing left to offer. But then came his match with Andrzej Fonfara, and Cleverly for a time looked to be a fighter reborn, he boxed Fonfara's ears off for the majority of the first 5 or 6 rounds, until he got caught with a huge uppercut in the nose which instantly turned into a geyser of blood, followed by a torn ear. But instead of quitting Clev gutted it out and gave us all one of the best matches of 2015, with he and Fonfara throwing leather at each other from pillar to post non-stop for 12 rounds setting a World Record for the most punches thrown in a Light Heavyweight match in recorded history. Personally I thought it should have been a draw, it was far closer than the official scorecards implied. Not only did he prove his mettle but he also proved how solid his chin really is, Stevenson got caught by a glancing Fonfara jab and went down, the iron chinned Chavez Jr. got put down in 9, but the guy that few gave a chance at surviving to see the final bell went to war in a phonebooth never showing an ounce of fear or taking a backward step. That also shows just how frightening Kovalev's power truly is. So Check Out one of Kovalev's best wins and give him another chance, he's deserving of one. :toney:toney:toney:toney





Educate Yourselves
Cleverly Vs. Fonfara

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Kovalev

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Karpency

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Mohammedi

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Krasniqi

This content is protected

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Bellew II

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Corbin

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Man

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Murat

This content is protected

 

Cleverly Vs. Bellew

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

Cleverly Vs. Valori

This content is protected

 

I think he gained more in losing to Fonfara the way he did that had he played it safe, he went to war and lost close FOTY contender, that probably bolstered him in fans eyes more than a slightly less exciting boxing lesson would. Machismo can win fans over a lot easier than skills can, especially here in the US.

You're right Kovalev's destruction of Cleverly is one of his most badass performances and is vastly underrated on this forum.

 

Which Light Heavyweight do you guys fancy Cleverly having a chance at beating?:think

 

I think Eleider is pretty overrated, maybe h could take him, there's a few guys I like to see him take the 0 of though, like Seanie Monaghan, Dominic Boesel and Umar Salamov, I'd like his chances in a Fonfara rematch and against Juergen Braehmer.