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What is the deal with this?
I have read many reports and interviews from that camp, talking up unification fights and other big money/name fights. After Cleverly took an easy fight for his first defence, after winning the title out of the ring, I was expecting to see him step it up after all the talking. However he decided to fight Tony Bellew in a grudge match, which no doubt was an attempt by Frank Warren to make a decent wedge of cash without much of a risk for his main fighter. Needless to say, Cleverly nearly slipped up, and in my opinion fought to a draw against a fighter in Bellew who is nowhere near world class.
Fair enough. After those 2 softer opponents I was finally hoping to see Cleverly stepping it up. However, after taking a look at some British news websites I see that Cleverly's next defence is being lined up, against Tommy Karpency, an American who is nowhere near world class, who's biggest boxing achievement is a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Karo Murat, a guy who Cleverly himself stopped 18 months ago. Karpency had seemingly found his level, at domestic US level. He lost to a European level fighter. He won't have fought for over 1 year. What is he doing travelling across the pond for a "world title" shot? What has he done to deserve it?
I also see Warren and Cleverly throwing names around, such as Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson and Beibut Shumenov. Personally, I don't see why Dawson or Hopkins should be wasting their time with an unproven, paper champion like Cleverly. Shumenov on the other hand would be a good start if he intends to climb to the top of the division. Apparently all 3 fighters were unavailable. So what? That is no excuse to fight Karpency. He is not the only other light heavyweight out there. Looking through his record on BoxRec, most of his opponents have lost 40-50%+ of their fights, and he's ranked at 83 in the world.
Adrian Diaconu? Allan Green? Edison Miranda? Isaac Chilemba? Dmitry Sukhotsky? Eduard Gutknecht? Even Enzo Maccarinelli? What was wrong with picking any of these opponents? Surely 1 of them would have been available. Any of these names would enhance Cleverly's resume a lot more than the great Tommy Karpency.
I have read many reports and interviews from that camp, talking up unification fights and other big money/name fights. After Cleverly took an easy fight for his first defence, after winning the title out of the ring, I was expecting to see him step it up after all the talking. However he decided to fight Tony Bellew in a grudge match, which no doubt was an attempt by Frank Warren to make a decent wedge of cash without much of a risk for his main fighter. Needless to say, Cleverly nearly slipped up, and in my opinion fought to a draw against a fighter in Bellew who is nowhere near world class.
Fair enough. After those 2 softer opponents I was finally hoping to see Cleverly stepping it up. However, after taking a look at some British news websites I see that Cleverly's next defence is being lined up, against Tommy Karpency, an American who is nowhere near world class, who's biggest boxing achievement is a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Karo Murat, a guy who Cleverly himself stopped 18 months ago. Karpency had seemingly found his level, at domestic US level. He lost to a European level fighter. He won't have fought for over 1 year. What is he doing travelling across the pond for a "world title" shot? What has he done to deserve it?
I also see Warren and Cleverly throwing names around, such as Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson and Beibut Shumenov. Personally, I don't see why Dawson or Hopkins should be wasting their time with an unproven, paper champion like Cleverly. Shumenov on the other hand would be a good start if he intends to climb to the top of the division. Apparently all 3 fighters were unavailable. So what? That is no excuse to fight Karpency. He is not the only other light heavyweight out there. Looking through his record on BoxRec, most of his opponents have lost 40-50%+ of their fights, and he's ranked at 83 in the world.
Adrian Diaconu? Allan Green? Edison Miranda? Isaac Chilemba? Dmitry Sukhotsky? Eduard Gutknecht? Even Enzo Maccarinelli? What was wrong with picking any of these opponents? Surely 1 of them would have been available. Any of these names would enhance Cleverly's resume a lot more than the great Tommy Karpency.
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