Why is Cleverly fighting Illunga Makabu?

Cleverly has the upper hand in speed, endurance and mobility... but Makabu has the size and power advantage. He'll put his gloves up, walk forward and let you punch him.... but as he gets closer he'll look to land and Cleverly hasn't taken a shot from a guy in a weight division 25 pounds north of his. Makabu isn't some boxing wizard, he comes to hurt you. Cleverly has to fight really smart and avoid anything big from this guy, because he does have power.... he just needs to land it.

Makabu really ain't that good and people on here are talking like he's one of the elite. 25 pound gap in weight class and he's the hardest puncher in the division

We can all complain and be puzzled, but I guess i'll be the first to say it.....at least Cleverly has guts.

Makabu has power but he fades in the later rounds. He just barely beat Kucher because of it. If Cleverly can withstand the early rounds, he can outwork him late, but that was their gameplan with Kovalev but Kovalev is better than Makabu. Still that's some ballsy matchmaking.

Makabu really ain't that good and people on here are talking like he's one of the elite. He seems to be a top 10 cruiser, which is 25lbs up from where Cleverly struggled with Bellew and just got blown out by another unproven puncher. This guy looks much better to me then Bellew, nm the weight diff.

Makabu really ain't that good and people on here are talking like he's one of the elite.

Echoing other posts in here. When I first heard, I got de-ja-vu of Khan vs Prescott and Cleverley vs Kovalev. Very risky move.

Big risk fight but if he comes out on top after moving up in weight beating a risky opponent perhaps he could put himself on his way to rebuilding... But if this one goes the way his last fight does, I dunno about where he goes...

Well Cleverly has a good chin and Makabu, from what I've seen of him, relies a lot on his power and tbh doesn't look very good, so maybe this is a good fight for Cleverly. Although it is a risk considering he's moving up in weight and just been destroyed by Kovalev

Maybe Cleverley just wants to see where he stands.

It's unbelievable, given his and Frank Warren's history. First everyone tells them Kovalev was a bad idea, but they go with it after years of protection and babying. Then he gets destroyed, they pick another high risk/low reward puncher. Everybody says it's a bad idea again. Has Warren gone insane? Does he want a quick exit from boxing, had enough?

Maybe to prove something? Also... Makabu's defense is putting his gloves up and walking forward. Maybe they feel they can exploit that And he probably can exploit it, but if makabu gets one good shot in, it could be all over for cleverly, a ko loss to someone virtually no one knows would not look good at all. If he looses his career will most likely be over.

Maybe to prove something? Also... Makabu's defense is putting his gloves up and walking forward. Maybe they feel they can exploit that