Cleverly v Kovalev

Warper

This Sat on Box Nation in Cardiff. I'm seriously thinking of lumping on Kovalev @ evens to beat Cleverly. Really not impressed with Cleverly who keeps his hands low. Kovalev is the KO expert who rarely goes beyond 3 rds. Am i missing something here?

megadodge

Warper wrote: »

This Sat on Box Nation in Cardiff. I'm seriously thinking of lumping on Kovalev @ evens to beat Cleverly. Really not impressed with Cleverly who keeps his hands low. Kovalev is the KO expert who rarely goes beyond 3 rds. Am i missing something here?

Maybe I'm the one missing something, but Kovalev hasn't exactly set my world on fire either. I'm not convinced he's the monster he's being made out to be. He seems quite straight forward and dare I say one-dimensional. Frank Warren has a great history of getting his fighters seemingly dangerous fights at exactly the right time. I've a feeling this could be one of those occasions.

Irrespective of the result it should be a good fight though.

Big Ears

You're both right to an extent.
Kovalev has plenty of flaws and is not nearly as well rounded as many fans (and particularly that excuse fore a journalist Dan Rafael) believe. But one thing that is very real with him is his power, he's just the sort of guy that can clip you with a grazing shot and all of a sudden your senses are scrambled.

Whilst maybe Nathan has the ability to outwork, outbox and at times outfight Kovalev, over the course of 12 rounds and with the occasionally leaky defence he possesses, I just can't see how Kovalev won't find the stoppage. perhaps only Lucas Mattyhsse holds a comparable level of power for his weight class within boxing today.

barney4001

i never liked cleverly to cocky and taunts an opponent who he has outclassed
getting ko ed might bring him down a peg or 2

Frankie Lee

Big Ears wrote: »

perhaps only Lucas Mattyhsse holds a comparable level of power for his weight class within boxing today.

Golovkin too surely?

hawkeyethenoo

is mattyhsse was so powerful how come he only stopped 1 out of the 3 best opponents hes faced? he has good power but again like him its overrated.

Big Ears

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Golovkin too surely?

I knew someone else was slipping my mind, yes Golovkin too.

hawkeyethenoo wrote: »

is mattyhsse was so powerful how come he only stopped 1 out of the 3 best opponents hes faced? he has good power but again like him its overrated.

He did drop both of those other 2 tbf, and probably should of won those decisions over Judah and Alexander. Alexander and Judah are elusive fighters and made use of Matthysse's crudeness to primarily allow him to only land glancing and partially blocked shots to the head (although enough of those type of shots that he should of won the fights). When he landed clean on both men we saw the reaction.

He's not unbeatable, infact I think if he moved up to Welterweight he wouldn't beat any of the top 5 guys and would be made to look a C standard fighter by the likes of Mayweather (but then again who isn't made to look like that vs him), but down at 140 lbs, the man's a beast and the one thing that's hard to question is his power. Like Kovalev and Golovkin, ou can dispute all else, but it's difficult to dispute that.

Johner

Happy for Enzo, still think he should retire now he will get seriously hurt when he goes in against another puncher.

Johner

Wow, what a shot by Smith! Proper KO shot. Hope Buckland is okay.

Dick phelan

Unreal finish by Smith, for some reason i think Clev is going to suprise everyone and outbox Kovalev and win a wide UD, not sure why just a hunch Kovalev will probably knock him out in 3 now i've said that ha

Johner

WOW, Cleverly just got smashed up.

Muzi5434

Clev got an absolute beating

Dick phelan

Kovalev is the real deal it would appear not just a hard punching hype job he has good boxing skill aswell, doubt Hopkins wants the fight

bellybuster12

Could not be happier:D

Big Ears

I told you the power was for real. Of course Kovalev also proved himself in other areas too, looked pretty good throughout the fight tbf.
Don't think many will want Kovalev now.......except maybe Hopkins, you never know with that old bastard.

Big Ears

pac_man wrote: »

No-one will go near him in that division. Similar to golovkin in that respect. Some puncher but I didnt understand cleverly's game plan.

It looked to me like he was trying to let Kovalev punch himself out.

nacho libre

megadodge wrote: »

Maybe I'm the one missing something, but Kovalev hasn't exactly set my world on fire either.

it seems you were missing something megadodge

gene_tunney

Boxing 101:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77290251

megadodge

Credit where it's due, Kovalev finally impressed me.

It wasn't his power (which I still don't think is massive) it was more his relaxed boxing and all-round ring generalship that was so impressive. Very cool and composed. I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

Frank Bullitt

Cleverly looked very average tonight, weather that is down to him not being as good as he was made out to be, or Kovalev is just that good!

Big Ears

pac_man wrote: »

Yeah that was the game plan, high guard, block shots for around 6 rounds with the hope of him tiring out but i thought it was foolish with an accurate puncher like kovalev to be standing square just taking shots.

The best tactic would of been months ago when the Warren's made this fight to ask them wtf they were playing act. Kovalev wasn't mandatory (well he was, but for the IBF not Nathan's title), and there was really no talk or demand for the fight.
They obviously didn't think Kovalev was all that, but it really seemed a strange decision. I suppose things have been desperate for Frank at times recently and desperate times call for desperate measures, not to mention Nathan could of been threatening to jump ship if Frank didn't deliver a big (ish) name opponent.....I dunno.

el flaco

Big Ears wrote: »

The best tactic would of been months ago when the Warren's made this fight to ask them wtf they were playing act. Kovalev wasn't mandatory (well he was, but for the IBF not Nathan's title), and there was really no talk or demand for the fight.
They obviously didn't think Kovalev was all that, but it really seemed a strange decision. I suppose things have been desperate for Frank at times recently and desperate times call for desperate measures, not to mention Nathan could of been threatening to jump ship if Frank didn't deliver a big (ish) name opponent.....I dunno.

On the flip side if he fought an easier opponent people would be banging on about him getting soft touches to keep him protected.

nacho libre

pac_man wrote: »

Yeah that was the game plan, high guard, block shots for around 6 rounds with the hope of him tiring out but i thought it was foolish with an accurate puncher like kovalev to be standing square just taking shots.

yes it was foolish, Cleverly thought Kovalev was one dimensional.

wadacrack

Buncey suggested a rematch. Cleverly career would be over if their was a rematch

gene_tunney

wadacrack wrote: »

Buncey suggested a rematch. Cleverly career would be over if their was a rematch

"Buncey" or perhaps more appropriately "Duncey" knows absolutely nothing about boxing. He is clueless. A rematch would wreck Cleverly. How idiots like him get on television I'll never know.

Big Ears

el flaco wrote: »

On the flip side if he fought an easier opponent people would be banging on about him getting soft touches to keep him protected.

Hey don't get me wrong, I've criticised Cleverly's opposition and would of done had they thrown him another scrub tonight.

But why not look for a less dangerous guy who's more renkowned than Kovalev. I'm talking about the likes of Tavoris Cloud, Allan Green, Juergen Braehmer and to a lesser extent even Zsolt Erdei and Eduard Gutnecht.

The latter two guys probably would of been accepted by the public as acceptable opponents and the first 3 would of been seen as very good match ups which for me would have held much less risk (and that's not just hindsight)

el flaco

Big Ears wrote: »

Hey don't get me wrong, I've criticised Cleverly's opposition and would of done had they thrown him another scrub tonight.

But why not look for a less dangerous guy who's more renkowned than Kovalev. I'm talking about the likes of Tavoris Cloud, Allan Green, Juergen Braehmer and to a lesser extent even Zsolt Erdei and Eduard Gutnecht.

The latter two guys probably would of been accepted by the public as opponents and the first 3 would of been seen as very good match ups which for me would have held much less risk (and that's not just hindsight)

I think he was due to fight braehmer wasn't he? But braehmer pulled out.
I agree, those would have been more suitable matchups but as I saw someone mention a few minutes ago, the Kovalev matchup might have been appealing to him from a point of view of getting exposure on US tv.

Big Ears

el flaco wrote: »

I think he was due to fight braehmer wasn't he? But braehmer pulled out.
I agree, those would have been more suitable matchups but as I saw someone mention a few minutes ago, the Kovalev matchup might have been appealing to him from a point of view of getting exposure on US tv.

Ya I think he's been due to fight Braehmer more than once but it's never happened and it's always been due to a problem on the German side.

No doubt HBO were interested in Kovalev, but HBO have shown a Cleverly fight before and they're a bit more open to showing non American fighters and fights outside the US since GoldenBoy departed to showtime, so I think they may have come over for a fight vs Cloud, and possibly for Green or Braehmer (although probaby for very little money). Oh well, it's all immaterial now, he's took the fight, and Kovalev done a job on him.

Dick phelan

The ref in that fight was a total disgrace and should be seriously reprimanded for his actions, he waved the fight off as Cleverly was getting a hiding, then when the bell went he actually carried Nathan back to his corner, ffs what a disgrace and his corner is as bad for letting him out for the next round, i mean Cleverly was done what if in the 4th he was hit and ended up with serious damage, especially against such a puncher thought it was an utter disgrace