Will the haters on here give Cleverly credit if he beats Kovalev??

No.. Kovlaev is a hype job.

He needs to fight proper fighters like Lucian Bute and a shot Mikkel Kessler to become Carl Froch standard.

 

no as Kovalev will suddenly turn into a bum who's never beat anybody.

 

I'll give Cleverly credit if he beats a solid opponent, yes.

I think fans get frustrated because his career has stalled badly in the last two years, after the balls to the wall bludgeoning of Murat we wanted big things. Instead we got the likes of Sugar Tommy Karpency and co.

He's a talent, with fast hands, plenty of balls and can take a shot too. However his footwork is beyond **** and his defence isn't anything special.

With his attributes he ought to be in with top five fighters regularly and competing against them. Even though Bellew hasn't been all that cracking lately he's stolen a bit of a march on Clev with a win and a draw against Chilemba.

Hopefully the stars will align to give us a rematch between the two. Realistically it's the most lucrative option for both.

 

If he merely survives & is awarded a decision, or if he really beats him?

 

Yes no doubt, if he looks good as well. My only problem is that I think he'll get knocked out. His light jab and feather shots won't keep him off and will walk onto some big combinations from Kovalev. We've seen in the last fight, Krasniqi could land right hands all night v Clev, and he hasn't got a 50% ko ratio.

 

7 years on and a lot of people don't even give Joe Calzaghe credit for the Lacy win despite the majority of people thinking Lacy would come over and spark him out. Time isn't very favourable to modern boxers.

 

Kovalev is not a world champion and has never been, OP for what reason would it be such a credit achieving victory?

I currently do not give cleverly the credit a heavy weight world champion deserves because he is what they call in the sport a 'paper champ'.

He recieved the title as he was the number 1 contender and won an interim belt.

He has never faced or beaten a world champion PAST or PRESENT.

 

What is there to hate?

 

Well after the Murat fight he went after Braehmer who ducked him to unify with shumenov, pulls out of that fight then agrees to fight Clev and then pulls out of that which left us with Kuziemski

Bellew was a great choice of opponent and he should have really followed suit after that but sadly all we got was Karpency and Hawk and finally Krasniqi who was a so-so opponent

I dont think a lot of people will give Cleverly credit for beating Kovalev however if Kovalev causes the upset he will be hyped up to be the next best thing

Im hoping for a good fight either way and if Clev wins personally it will validate him as a top Light heavy but I dont think he will be the best until he takes on the likes of Pascal/Hopkins/Stevenson

Who knows, if Bellew beats Stevenson we could see a unification and a great rematch of the first fight

 

You do realise Braehmer vacated just so he wouldnt have to fight Cleverly right? or any top light heavyweight for that matter