Bellew-Cleverly II Closes In On Late November Fight Date
Sep 25, 2014 • 8:38 AM ET
By Terence Dooley
Tony Bellew's hometown grudge rematch against long-time rival Nathan Cleverly is edging closer to an official announcement.
The cruiserweight
contest is pencilled in for November 29 at Liverpool's Echo Arena,
according to BoxRec's fight listings, but there is a distinct possibilty that
it will be switched to the 22nd of the same month to avoid a clash with Frank
Warren's ExCel Arena bill, which is topped by Tyson Fury's rematch with Dereck
Chisora.
The Echo have confirmed to BoxingScene that an
announcement is "imminent", but the tickets have not gone on sale
yet.
Boxing fans should bookmark
http://www.echoarena.com
and add 0844 8000 400, the Echo's ticket line
number, to their phone's directory as the eagerly anticipated rematch, which
has bubbled along nicely since Cleverly, 28-1 (14), won a majority decision
over Bellew, 22-2-1 (14), at the same venue in October 2011 to successfully
defend his WBO light-heavyweight crown, is close to being formally unveiled.
Cleverly, 27, lost his WBO title to Sergey
Kovalev in August of last year (L TKO 4), he switched to Eddie Hearn's
Matchroom stable and made the move to cruiserweight following the defeat.
This move up in weight, not to mention the promotional change, meant that
"Clev" and "The Bomber" were once again on one another's
radars as Bellew, 31, also made the move to 200lbs following a stoppage defeat
after losing to WBC light-heavyweight boss Adonis Stevenson last November (L
TKO 6).
Both men have netted comeback wins since those
defeats—Bellew has beaten Valery Brodov and Julio Cesar Dos Santos (KO 12 and
TKO 5 respectively) while Cleverly came back with his own brace of stopppages
(W TKO 2 and 4 over Shawn Corbin and Alejandro Emilio Valori)—and a rematch
became an inevitability.
With the fight nailed down, the date will follow
shortly and boxing fans can hit the phones and Internet to secure their seat
for a fight that should provide plenty of entertainment from the first press
conference right through to the night itself.
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@Terryboxing
