Nathan Cleverly vs. Karo Murat: who will win?

[The Hammer]

The winner will be established as a top light heavyweight contender.

Who will win on Saturday? By decision or KO?

[The Hammer]

Both fighters are young and undefeated.

Each has a few wins over decent opponents (for example Murat defeated Campillo).

[black.ink]

Cleverly by UD.

Murat is a good body puncher, but Cleverly is much more rounded and should see of Murat in a hard fought decision.

[The Hammer]

I think either of these two would have a good chance of defeating Tavoris Cloud or Beibut Shumenov.

[P4P Opinion]

I hope Cleverly wins, but I honestly don't know enought about Murat to say who will win. Murat's resume looks solid though, so he looks to be more than a match for Cleverly.

[black.ink]

I think either of these two would have a good chance of defeating Tavoris Cloud or Beibut Shumenov.

Both men you mentioned are flawed fighters, but Tavoris is a tough bastard that for me right now, would beat Cleverly and Murat (although admittedly i haven't seen much of Murat) but give another 1 or 2 years and i see the both of them on the world stage making noise.

Shumenov for me is still a work in progress even though he is a title holder. He's only had around 10 fights, and has had two controversial fights with Campillo (who has lost against Murat) but i don't see him holding the title for too long and a fight with either Murat or Cleverly would be pretty good.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Kinda nervous about this one cos I havent seen much at all of Murat. I have a feeling Cleverly is in for a tough night but will gut out a decision win.

[Calza appy]

I think it will be close but with Cleverly at 'home' he will get the decision. If Murat is going to win a decision hes gotta dominate the whole fight, id like to believe that wont happen.

[BetterCallSaul]

I haven't seen much of Murat yet either so I don't know what to expect. From what I have seen, he's a typical stand-up European fighter. He's flat footed, keeps a high, tight guard, and fights very upright. However, he's capable of exploding with a barrage of strong shots and looks dangerous when he does. In that respect he fights very much like Abraham, although he doesn't carry as much power and isn't as difficult to hit.

Cleverly certainly isn't a finished article just yet, and he does make mistakes. He has a tendency to get very sloppy and trade with opponents he can easily outclass with his boxing skills. If he trades with Murat he could end up on the canvas from a well placed left hook right on the chin. In the same breath, he has won his last 6 fights by KO, so he is certainly capable of giving Murat something to think about in the power department.

This is a hard fight to call for a variety of reasons. I'm going to go with Murat by decision. He will start slow but will gradually start to wear Cleverly down during the second half of the fight. Cleverly is capable of winning the fight off his boxing skills alone, but I don't believe he has the experience to box a diciplined fight for 12 rounds.

Murat Decision.

[bboy80]

Clev should take this, he turned full time earlier this year so hopefully that will have helped him step up to the next level + he looked absolutely massive compared to Murat today.