Nathan Cleverly looking to break kovalev bit by bit

If Cleverly comes into the ring less than 100% and fights similarly to the way he fought Bellew, Kuziemski and Mohammedi then Kovalev gets to him.

Once opponents get tagged by Kovalev they tend to stay hit. There is going to be a point, it could be the first round or it could be into the third round that Kovalev is going to land cleanly with a punch. A small reaction from Cleverly showing that he's been hurt and it's game over. He doesn't have the power to keep Kovalev off then. Unless he can box superbly for perhaps 6-8 rounds avoiding the decent Kovalev punches early on, then I can only see a brutal stoppage win for Kovalev. If Kovalev is on top and he hurts Cleverly I will imagine he gets the benefit of the doubt ( Cleverly) to continue, it could turn into a beating with numerous knockdowns.

Also, Cleverly maintains he has a great chin, there's plenty of body to hit.

I'm going for a fast start from Kovalev, he cannot let Cleverly get into a rhythm (more than ever in this fight), strong punches to head but with a body attack to bring his hands down. Strong jabs and power combinations to stop Cleverly throwing all those punches. Kovalev won't let Cleverly stand off and throw 100 punches a round. He won't win the fight doing that. If we assume Kovalev doesn't want to go twelve rounds and won't win on points, then he will want to get this over with as quickly as possible and will put as much hurt on Cleverly as quickly as possible to remove the speed and stamina advantage. Kovalev goes for the finish early.

 

Bellew, has got to be the most overrated fighter in uk, because he has **** defense, average power, below average boxing skills. But it's cleverly's best opponent on his resume, because i can't name any known fighters Krasniqi, or Murat beat or faced. To me this is more of a step up for cleverly, because campillo is a far better fight then anybody cleverly has faced. If cleverly thought bellew gave him problems, just wait till next week when kovalev takes him through hell.