Ringnews24.com: What would you say is the hardest part of your job and the most awarding?
Vincent Cleverly: The hardest part of my training is to keep my boxer mentally prepared for either training or the fight it self. The most rewarding is when my boxer wins which so far I am undefeated as a pro trainer.
Ringnews24.com: Can you give us a insight to what a fighter has to go through leading up to a professional fight and how the training schedule changes leading up to a fight?
Vincent Cleverly: My boxer has to go through a lot of mental and physical pain to achieve his goal to be successful for 10 weeks. The training schedule will start off with plenty of anaerobic work and a mixture of different exercises to keep my fighter fresh and not to get him bored’ finishing the training we will be doing more cardio work to start the weight loss to get him ready for his boxing weight .
Ringnews24.com: What effect , if any , has the father-son relationship the Calzaghe’s had in boxing had on you and Nathan? Some people say everything you know is thanks to Calazaghe, how do you react to such comments?
Vincent Cleverly: To be honest the time we had with the Calzaghe’s did give Nath and myself a fantastic insight on how a world class boxer trains!! and to spar with such good boxers is invaluable. BUT also the Calzaghe’s would not have used Nath for instance like using him to spar with Joe before the Kessler, Hopkins and Lacy fights if Nath was not good enough. Nath did pull Joe along in the pre fight runs. Everything I know is definitely not down to Enzo Calzaghe I learnt my profession watching and learning from various trainers and working hard with Nath behind closed doors .
Ringnews24.com: With so many Father-Son Combinations having been less than successful over the years, and even some of the successful ones like the Mosley’s being unable to last all the entire way through a career, what do you see as being the difference with you and Nathan as opposed to the others?
Vincent Cleverly: The difference I believe is I’m not selfish and I am willing to fetch in other trainers to help if I thought I was not doing Nath justice.
Ringnews24.com: During the Calazaghe Gym era, Nathan only had 3 stoppages in what… like 12 fights! Since leaving the Calzaghe gym and joining your gym, he started TKOing people like crazy! What is the reason behind this?
Vincent Cleverly: The reason for Nath starting to have more stoppages is down to a number of things ie: like the step up to lightheavyweight, planting his feet more when punching, more concentrating on power punching, less running and more anerobic work and overall just being with a better trainer.
Ringnews24.com: It’s normal for the average fan to think that a Father in the corner would be more likely to stop a fight if he had to, but in fact there’s been a few sad examples of where just the opposite was true (the tragedy of Levander Johnson comes to mind). I know you never want to think about a situation like that arising, and with Nathan winning so convincingly it’s not something that you’ve had to even think about so far, but are you confident that if that moment did come to pass that you’d be able to be 100% Trainer focused and not Father oriented?
Vincent Cleverly: When I’m in the gym or at the fight with Nath, my job is to be a trainer and nothing else ie: my name to Nath then is not dad but Vince the trainer and its Nath the boxer to me.
Ringnews24.com: Nathan seems to want to mix it more now in his fights , are you happy with the way Nathan seems to take more chances as he is stepping up in class? Would you consider taking Nathan over to the USA to develop his career further like many UK boxers have done recently?
Vincent Cleverly: If you look at the Bellew fight Nath did box as well as mix it, sometimes you got to fight sometimes you got to box Nath can do both when needed to get the victory. I would of course take Nath anywhere in the world to progress, if needed.
Ringnews24.com: How would you react if Nathan asked for a change of trainer?
Vincent Cleverly: My reaction if Nath did decide to change trainers would be I wish you all the best my son and I’m always here for you, no probs.
Ringnews24.com: Shumenov, the WBA Champ, appears to me to be the most easily beatable of the other Champs, is it tempting to want to fight him first ahead of Hopkins and Cloud? And along those lines, if you did get one of those two more lucrative fights and were to win them, would you even be concerned with going back to Shumenov?
Vincent Cleverly: Nath’s aim is to unify the light heavyweight division so my answer would be he’ll fight anyone who’s got one of the belts, so yes.
Ringnews24.com: Out of Cloud, Hopkins, Pascal and Dawson which one would be most suited for Nathan and why? Do you see Nathan sticking with his division or moving up in weight in the future?
I really think Hopkins is there for the taking now in everyway ie: Nath is faster, fitter, bigger and will have more hunger. He would box hopkins at range or take him to the trenches on the inside and can be just as dirty. As for moving up in weight I think that is a big possibility in 18 months to 2 years or could be sooner we’ll see .
Ringnews24.com: Enzo Maccarinelli recently said “If i get the chance to smash Cleverly’s face in, I will” Is this fight a possibility and if so when do you think it will happen?
Vincent Cleverly: Nath will smash Maccarinelli have no doubt about that big time, but the fight will happen in Nath’s time and not in Maccarinelli the cart horses time. He’s had chance after chance after chance, is he brain dead or what ??? hmmm yes he his !
Ringnews24.com: Nathan next fight is in Wales on Febuary the 25th against the American based Pole Andrzej Fonfara, do you know much about him? And what can we expect from Nathan in 2012?
Vincent Cleverly: The fight on Feb 25th is a confirmed date but the opponent is not, we are still waiting confirmation but who ever it is we will do our homework on him. I really think Nath could be fighting to unify his division by the end of 2012.
Ringnews24.com: You have a good prospect in Liam Williams, what do you hope to achieve with Liam in 2012 and how fast do you think he will be ready for a British Title shot?
Vincent Cleverly: My prospect Liam Williams is a very good indeed and I expect him to be a challenger for a British title in 18 months possibly at light middleweight.
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