WBO light heavyweight world champion Nathan Cleverly, will this Saturday night put his championship belt on the line as he takes on the hard hitting, USA based Russian, Sergei Kovalev 21-0-1 (KO 19).
The bout will be held at The Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales UK.
The Welshman, Cleverly 26-0 (KO 12) will defend his strap for the sixth time at the weekend. Many sections have said that ‘Clev’ has not faced anyone of real substance since the eagerly anticipated bout against his fellow British compatriot Tony Bellew, back in October of 2011.
Frank Warren, Cleverly’s promoter, has publicly chased the veteran and current IBF light heavyweight title holder, forty eight year old and seemingly ageless Bernard Hopkins to no avail. The big fights just haven’t come to fruition for the Welshman thus far, for one reason and another. I have certainly been frustrated by this turn of events, I can only imagine how Cleverly must feel.
Coming into this fight many are making the heavy hitting Russian bomber the betting favourite, more than likely due to his KO ratio. The undefeated Kovalev has hardly faced a stern list of opponents, it could be said his record is very similar to Cleverly’s at this point.
Kovalev has stopped 18 of his 19 opponents inside three rounds. This goes to show the Russian is very heavy handed and a major threat not only to Cleverly’s WBO title, but also to his chin.
Nathan Cleverly’s fellow countryman and undefeated retired boxer Joe Calzaghe, has come out and said that Cleverly should ignore the underdog status that has been given, and to remember Calzaghe’s superb boxing exhibition against the then highly touted American, Jeff Lacey.
They could very well be wise words from former world champion Calzaghe.
Nathan Cleverly recently had this to say about his opponent:
“This could be my breakthrough fight. I have to show more maturity and not get involved in a toe-to-toe battle. I have to box this guy.”
The Welshman added: “When Joe saw this opponent he told me to look back at his fight with Jeff Lacey and take note of what happened there. They are two different scenarios, but we could see a repeat of that.”
I have only seen two of Kovalev’s bouts in full and a highlights video. The man is most certainly a threat with the power he possesses .
It is a tricky fight to predict I believe, it could honestly go either way. For me, it’s a true 50/50 bout.
I would edge towards a MD decision victory to Cleverly on the scorecards due to the Welshman’s work-rate and high tempo output. I feel that Nathan Cleverly will have to up his output to a level he has not previously done to keep Kovalev off him. If Kovalev gets inside and starts to hit home, Cleverly could be in deep water.
The Russian is very good at going to the body hard in order to get his opponents hands down to make space for the head shots and really let his hands go.
This I feel will be his method of attack against Cleverly.
Lets see how this fight pans out as it is certainly a very interesting match up.
The fight will be on BoxNation on Saturday night at around 10pm.
Be sure to tune in to see what could be a superb contest between the two pugilists putting it all on the line to for world honours.
Good luck to both men.
