The Boxing Diary

Views and Opinions

Showing posts with label Nathan Cleverly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nathan Cleverly. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2015

Andrzej Fonfara edges Nathan Cleverly in a classic action fight

Andrzej Fonfara , Nathan Cleverly
Andrzej Fonfara edges Nathan Cleverly in a classic action fight
Andrzej Fonfara wins a bruising toe-to-toe action-packed 12-round unanimous decision against Nathan Cleverly on Friday night at the UIC Pavilion, Chicago on PBC on Spike TV.

From the opening round, Fonfara and Cleverly engaged in a phone booth battle that lasted till the final bell of their light heavyweight clash. Fonfara (28-3, 16 KOs) got the better of it as he's the one who fought a little bit more technical than the simply come forward style of the Wales fighter. He was able to finish the fight stronger and Cleverly (29-3, 15 KOs) looked weary in the championship round.

I think, that was the result of a broken nose. The ringside doctor checked Clev's nose before the championship round to make sure he was okay. 

Cleverly was enjoying the fight especially in the middle rounds. He would ask for more even if the bell already sounded. The referee would guide him back to his corner for the one-minute break. But that Cleverly act didn't continue in the next three rounds as Fonfara was able to land more and more shots to the head. Cleverly would be walked straight to his corner this time. It seemed he had enough. Fonfara on the other hand was still fresh going into the championship. He finished strong especially in the last 10 seconds wherein he unleashed a flurry of punches that have no answer, and sent Clev to the corner.

It was a fan-friendly fight that you can't watch every Saturday night on free TV. Awesome matchmaking this time from PBC

The official scores were: 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112 all for Fonfara for the unanimous.
Read more »
By at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Cleverly vs Corbin Results: Cleverly destroys Corbin in round 2

Nathan Cleverly , News
Cleverly vs Corbin Results: Cleverly destroys Corbin in round 2
Nathan Cleverly destroys Corbin

Nathan Cleverly is back!


Welshman Nathan Cleverly (27-1, 13 KO) stops Shawn Corbin (17-5, 12 KO's) in just two rounds in his cruiserweight debut in front of lively crowd at Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.


Cleverly started strong in the second round after feeling the first round being a cruiserweight. He tagged Corbin with left and right combination that forced Corbin back to the ropes. Cleverly then landed a vicious uppercut that obviously hurt Corbin. Cleverly followed up with barrage of unanswered punches that forced the referee to step in and halt the fight. The official time of the stoppage: 2:19 second round.


With this win, Cleverly captured the vacant WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title.


Cleverly is now back in the winning column nine months after the devastating knockout defeat he suffered from the hands of the then emerging heavy handed Sergey Kovalev. He was knockout in the fourth round in the same arena after being floored twice in the third round, and lost his WBO light heavyweight title. The big win will certainly Cleverly's confidence booster and will help get rid that loss in his head and move forward in his new division.



Gavin Rees SD12 Gary Buckland


Gavin Rees (38-4-1, 18 KO's) quality punches and ring generalship carried the day as he won via split decision against Gary Buckland 28-,4 9 KO's) of Cardiff in over 12 rounds of entertaining action.


I can't believe both men survive 12 rounds of brutal back and forth action. Both men traded hard blow like there is no tomorrow. The ecstatic crowd in Motorpoint Arena did standing ovation for the fighters after the fight.


Rees was the better boxer and landed cleaner punches. Buckland was the more active fighter: marching forward all night. For me, It was a close fight. But the scorecards didn't reveal how close the fight was on two judges, although one judge had it for Buckland. The judges' score cards were: 117-113 for Rees, 116-113 for Buckland and 117-112 for Rees.



Callum Smith KO2 Tobias Webb


Callum Smith (11-0, 9 KO's) destroyed Tobias Webb (14-2-1, 2 KO's) in just two rounds. Smith showed tremendous body work, dropping Webb three times with hooks to the body.


In the first round Webb fought well and I thought this could be a long night for the undefeated prospect from Liverpool. But in the second round Smith unleashed a ripping left hook to the liver that dropped Webb like a dog -- knees and both gloves -- hit the floor.


That was extremely painful shot but the gallant Webb got up and continued fighting. This time Smith fired another brutal body shot, now utilizing his right hand and the same result: Webb went down in déjà vu of the first knockdown but Webb got up again, only to visit the floor for the third time.


I thought the third knockdown could be the end but again he rose to his feet and beat the count. But in the fourth knockdown, Webb was not able to beat the count the referee stopped the fight. The official time: 2:50 in the second round.


With the win Smith named the WBC International super middleweight champion.

Read more »
By at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

This week’s boxing schedule: Marquez vs. Alvarado, Rodriquez, Cleverly; more

Boxing Schedule , Juan Manuel Marquez
This week’s boxing schedule: Marquez vs. Alvarado, Rodriquez, Cleverly; more
[caption id="attachment_2596" align="alignnone" width="1024"]This week’s boxing schedule: Marquez vs. Alvarado, Rodriquez, Cleverly; more Photo Credit: HBO[/caption]

The month of May has been explosive month for boxing, yet we are still in middle of this month. Mayweather-Maidana set the tone for this month as they engaged into a war, which is rare to see from the pound-for-pound king. In the second week, another war happened between Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) and Chris Arreola (36-4, 21 KO’s). Stiverne froze Arreola with a big right hand in round six (Arreola was well ahead in the scorecards). Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Donnie Nietes (33-1-4, 19 KO’s) silenced critics by stopping Moises Fuentes in the rematch. Nietes continue reigning as the longest Filipino world champion. You can read my full fight recap here.


This week’s boxing schedule, starting Friday, May 16, we have Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3, 16 KO’s) coming back in action on ESPN2, after losing to Miguel Cotto back in October last year. He will face Joachim Alcine (35-7-4, 21 KO’s) at the Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Also on that card is Joe Hanks vs. Derric Rossy.


Then on Saturday May 17, we have Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) tangles horn with Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) at Forum, Inglewood, California. The outcome of this fight will determine if we will gonna, see Pacquaio vs. Marquez 5. If this fight will ever happen, it seems that Top Rank boss, Bob Arum is taking the fight to Macau. However, before we even think about Pacquiao-Marquez 5, Alvarado of course has another plan come Saturday night. I’ll have my preview and prediction up for this fight on this site later on. So, stay tuned.


This week’s boxing schedule: Marquez vs. Alvarado, Rodriquez, Cleverly; moreIn UK, also on Saturday (3:00 PM EDT) former light heavyweight Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) will be back in the ring against Sean Corbin (17-4, 12 KO’s) at Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales. This will be Cheverly’s first attempt moving up at the cruiserweight division, after semi-retired for nine months. Cleverly was knockout by lightly regarded, at that time, Sergey Kovalev.



Here is the rest of this week’s boxing schedule:


Friday, May 16, 2014, SHO, 10:00 pm EDT




  • Joel Diaz Jr vs. Tyler Asselstine


  • Frank Galarza vs. Sebastien Bouchard 


Saturday, May 17, Skysports UK




  • Gary Buckland vs. Gavin Rees


  • Lee Selby vs. Romulo Koasicha


  • Callum Smith vs. Tobias Webb


Unimas




  • Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Manuel Quezada,


  • Anton Novikov vs. Javier Castro,


  • Jose Benavidez vs. Angel Hernandez

Read more »
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, August 19, 2013

Is Nathan Cleverly overly hype or is just that Kovalev is extremely underrated?

Features , Nathan Cleverly
Is Nathan Cleverly overly hype or is just that Kovalev is extremely underrated?

Commentary│After Nathan Cleverly fought his Russian challenger, I read several articles that showed somewhat sympathy to his devastating fourth round knockout loss and blaming his promoter for the defeat.

Cleverly was defending his WBO light heavy weight title against a fighter who was also seeking recognition inside the squared circle, a 30 year old born in Russia, now residing in Florida, USA, named Sergey Kovalev.

A promoter would always make his fighters looked to be on the top. He will hype his fighter as much as he can. That is his job. Really, that is what it is. That is why he is called a promoter. His job is to promote. But promoting in a way that will make his fighter becomes complacent and overconfident against an opponent is another story.


A prizefighter should keep in mind that having a great promoter, which is excellent in doing his job, is an advantage to his career. But the fighter’s job is to keep oneself ready to any opponent that his promoter will put in front of him.

In the other side of the coin, a fighter, which is poorly promoter might be underrated. But this will not keep him from shining. Whenever there is an opportunity for a fight at another level, he will capitalize if he truly has the skill-and-will to be on the top. In the contrary, a over hype and also complacent well-promoted fighter, most of time, will get exposed.

I think this is the case between Nathan Cleverly and Sergey Kovalev.

Cleverly might not be ready at 26, to face the real Kovalev. But Cleverly will defeat the kind of Kovalev his promoter perceived. That is why I can see the confidence in Cleverly during the weight in.

Though, I’m not in the position to tell, whether Cleverly is complacent in training. Trainers are more inclined to know firsthand if their fighters have the chance against another fighter if scouted properly.

Cleverly was hype in a way that he will think he can easily handle Kovalev or any other opponent that might made him become less motivated.

As always, never underestimate you opponent.

I agree. Certainly, Cleverly will rebound from his defeat. He is young. He can work out his flaws.

Meanwhile, Kovalev is now recognized how potent his power and how good his jab.

In another note, I am not happy how the referee handled the fight. He is not supposed to aid a fighter to his corner. I am sick about hometown favoritism that Instead of trying to help the hometown hero, whom is not supposed to be done by a referee, it made Cleverly take more unnecessary punishment. The fight should have been stopped in the third round.
Read more »
By at No comments:
Labels: , ,