sergey kovalev v nathan cleverly...who wins?

[P4P Opinion]

Can't believe the near unanimous pick of Kovalev. Don't get me wrong, he's awesome, but we haven't seen enough to make him the favourite over Cleverly. Kovalev has a great all-round technical game, surgical mind-frame and knockout power, but we really don't know what he'll be like against better competition. Beating Campillo put him on the map, but it doesn't make him the next big star.

I'm going to put it out there that Nathan Cleverly is an extremely tough fight for anyone at 175 - very fast hands, very high work-rate, excellent chin, good combination puncher and an aggressive mindset. Against a fighter like Kovalev, maybe his aggressive mindset and occasional disregard for defence will count against him, but it's a basic fact of boxing that it's hard to win a decision against a fighter that throws close to 100 punches a round. It wears a fighter down having to defend and try to match a fighter with that kind of output. Even if Kovalev can land the cleaner, more eye-catching punches, the judges will often go for the guy who lands more, even if his shots don't mean as much.

I think Kovalev would need a knockout to beat Cleverly and while Kovalev has excellent power, Cleverly has shown an excellent chin as well. Could happen, but far from a certainty and with the likelihood that Cleverly would win a decision (as far as I'm concerned), I'd have to make Cleverly the favourite.

[Gordon_Gekko]

Cleverley wins.

You can't outpoint him, he throws 90 accurate punches around, and you can't hurt him.

Clev to unify.

[Arsene Knows]

Don't hold your breath.

Warren would never put Cleverly in with KOvalev.

My thoughts, too! Ha ha.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/boxing/4967845/Nathan-Cleverly-set-to-defend-title-against-Sergey-Kovalev.html

I know its the Sun (lol) and not confirmed yet but looks like I was right.

They are waiting for Monday to make the announcement which leads me to believe they're waiting for Kovalev to come through his fight.

[Weebler I]

Warren would never put Cleverly in with KOvalev.

Hearn mentioned it in an interview, I assumed he was mistaken. It would be a real 'wtf' moment if he signed Cleverly up to fight Kovalev.

[dan_cov]

Cleverley wins.

You can't outpoint him, he throws 90 accurate punches around, and you can't hurt him.

Clev to unify.

Kovalev has the power to hurt anybody. Hes very heavy handed.

I'm not sure why people seem to think workrate is the key to winning every fight. The more you open up the more openings you leave.

Campillo also has a very high workrate, Kovalev destroyed him and never let him get into the fight.

[LacedUp]

Kovalev has the power to hurt anybody. Hes very heavy handed.

I'm not sure why people seem to think workrate is the key to winning every fight. The more you open up the more openings you leave.

Campillo also has a very high workrate, Kovalev destroyed him and never let him get into the fight.

I'm sure we can both agree that Campillo is not on the same level as Cleverly. He was beaten years ago by a guy Cleverly beat like a hillbilly on his wife.

Cleverly has a great chin, ok power, but greatwork rate and skill. When a great boxer meets a great puncher- the boxer usually wins. And Cleverly is better than him imo. I hope this fight happens though!

[dan_cov]

I'm sure we can both agree that Campillo is not on the same level as Cleverly. He was beaten years ago by a guy Cleverly beat like a hillbilly on his wife.

Cleverly has a great chin, ok power, but greatwork rate and skill. When a great boxer meets a great puncher- the boxer usually wins. And Cleverly is better than him imo. I hope this fight happens though!

If you mean Murat I actually had Campillo winning both of those fights. Hes had a lot of hard decisions go against him.

Kovalev is very good technically himself. I think his power makes a lot underlook his skillset. Hes very solid technically.

Its a good fight and I'd love to see it but Cleverly is way too protected for my liking & don't get me wrong I wouldn't blame him team for steering him away as its a high risk-low reward fight. B-Hop in the U.K makes far more sense to me.

[Arsene Knows]

Hearn mentioned it in an interview, I assumed he was mistaken. It would be a real 'wtf' moment if he signed Cleverly up to fight Kovalev.

Why? Cleverly gets unfair stick around here. He has been turned down by Hopkins, Shumenov and Froch (twice) already.

[LacedUp]

If you mean Murat I actually had Campillo winning both of those fights. Hes had a lot of hard decisions go against him.

Kovalev is very good technically himself. I think his power makes a lot underlook his skillset. Hes very solid technically.

Its a good fight and I'd love to see it but Cleverly is way too protected for my liking & don't get me wrong I wouldn't blame him team for steering him away as its a high risk-low reward fight. B-Hop in the U.K makes far more sense to me.

I thought the last fight was questionable, the first one was a solid win for Murat imo.

I think so too, but Cleverly is incredibly fast for LHW and he takes a good punch. He'll get in close and let the punches fly to the body and head from the get-go and I just see him stealing way too many rounds early on.

But the Hopkins fight definitely makes more sense, both interest wise and financially, though Kovalev might be a closer fight. If Cleverly beats hopkins, I think he'd go for winner of Adonis/Bellew rather than Kovalev tbh.

[dan_cov]

Why? Cleverly gets unfair stick around here. He has been turned down by Hopkins, Shumenov and Froch (twice) already.

Hopkins wants this fight in the U.K & Cleverly was steered away from Shumenov and instead opted to fight Tommy Karpency as for Froch he clearly had bigger fish to fry.