Cleverly: Kovalev Beats Ward Close - I Want a Rematch

By Edward Chaykovsky

Welsh fighter Nathan Cleverly (30-3, 16 KOs) is picking Sergey Kovalev to win a close twelve round decision over Andre Ward on Saturday night.

Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) will defend his WBA 'super', WBO and IBF world titles against Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Kovalev traveled over to Wales and captured his first world title in 2013 when he crushed Cleverly in four rounds with a knockout victory to pick up the WBO title. It was Cleverly's first defeat as a professional.

Cleverly is very excited about the upcoming fight, where both boxers are among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

"It's a brilliant fight, probably the best in the whole of boxing at the moment, because it's such a contrast of styles," Cleverly said to Nick Parkinson. "Ward is a masterclass technically as a fighter and then you have Kovalev, whose boxing skills are underrated but has brute force in both hands. It's intriguing.

"It will be so close, and go the distance, but I'm going with Kovalev. I see why people are thinking Ward, but Kovalev keeps his distance and has good balance, he has got long punches -- and he is the bigger guy. Kovalev's the natural light-heavyweight and Ward has come up from super-middle. He [Kovalev] is experienced at fighting bigger guys and his power will be enough to put Ward into his shell. He will win the rounds on work rate and make Ward very defensive. I think he will win a close decision."

Cleverly is back in the mix at 175-pounds, after capturing the WBA's "regular" version of the world title from Juergen Braehmer. The German fighter suffered an injury and was unable to continue after the sixth round.

The winner of Ward vs. Kovalev will eventually have to make a mandatory defense against Cleverly. Before that, Cleverly is likely going to have to do a rematch with Braehmer.

"The winner is my official mandatory defence, so will collide with me at some point in the not-so-distant future," Cleverly said. "They will get their business done and I will get my business done and then it could happen.

"If it's Kovalev, people will think I'm crazy to get back in the ring with him, but I'm a fighter and I'm a risk-taker; if it's there, I will do it. I took the fight too early last time -- next time will be different. Provisionally, the rematch with Braehmer is my next fight," Cleverly said. "I signed a rematch clause before the fight so I'm expecting to fight him again in Germany."