Comments Thread For: Cleverly's Trainer: 100% Confident Kovalev Will Get KO'd

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Sorry Dirk but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one....

......far prefer to see Nathan make Kovalev to have to chase the fight, burn lots of energy by having to work for openings and being forced to miss.

Meanwhile, Nathan patiently smacks home the scoring jabs from range and progressively begins to counter with more aggression as the fight wears on and Kovalev has to take more and more risks.

Put the pressue all on Kovalev and see whether he's good enough to really turn it into a war or has the patience to try and box a smart fight.

The good news for Clev is that even if it does turn into a war he's got the strength, guts and work-rate to pinch the decision.

I just think Kovalev thrives on guys that back up - look at Campillo. He was quite happy to chase him and he does cut the ring off well. Cleverly is in trouble if he is constantly backing up to the ropes. I'd like to see him stake out the centre of the ring. It will be interesting to see how he approaches it

[Mr. Philadel]

Kid has balls. I used to **** on him too but he's damn near begged for fights with Hopkins, Froch, Shumenov etc in the past few years. He wants to prove himself and deserves credit, win or lose.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Citizen Koba]

Putting aside Vince Cleverly's oh-so predicatable view that he fancies his own flesh and blood to prevail.....it will be seriously interesting to see how Kovalev plays this one.

Does he try to bulldoze his way right over Cleverly, patiently stalk him and work for an opening to unload the power-shots or just box with Nathan?

My guess is that Kovalev will chance his arm and go for Cleverly early and then go into stalking mode if that does not deliver the result.

That could suit Nathan, who I still think is far nastier and more effective when someone comes at him and has the skill to counter-punch often, well and accurately and has the ability to get himself onto the front foot quickly so that defence is turned into attack.

Kovalev is going to have make the running in this one and he's going to find Cardiff a pretty full-on, partisan place.

I want to see Cleverly sit back, be patient and set some traps, not get all dumb and macho like he has in the past and progressively turn the screw on Kovalev. Let's see what happens!

You, my friend, visualise a similar kinda fight to me. Kovs camp say he's training for the long haul, but as long as he can do it without compromising his stamina, Kovalev would be foolish not to come out heavy and at least see how Clev copes with it. 2-3 Rounds max and then settle down a bit. I think Kovalev takes it with a TKO - I'm going for mid rounds, but I'd be entirely happy if Clev demonstrates the level of skill required to neutralise Kovalevs crushing combinations to win for a UD or MD.

As for the Clev KO - well it's hard to imagine. He wore down Shawn Hawk who was gassing after 2 admittedly, but prior to that his last (genuine) forced stoppage was Brancallion. Cleverly just doesn't knock people out.

I'm really excited 'bout this fight partly because of the uncertainty, and I'm ashamed to admit I'm straddling the fence, 'cos Clevs my home fighter, but I see in Kovalev a balls out KO artist that could bring real excitement to LHW.

I just wanna see a proper world title fight on the 17th, with two quality fighters giving everything. For me this is bigger than any of of the so-called 'Mega-fights'.

[ddangerous]

Am I the only one that's truly intrigued by the reasoning behind why Cleverly wanted Kovalev so badly? He damn near begged for him.

I'm with you. Credit to him for going after a feared opponent.

[Hougigo]

Cleverly is just goign to be another opponent who people will say was to test the never tested Kovalev until he's blown out

[kiaba360]

What are Cleverly's best performances? Also, who has Cleverly fought that has similar power to Kovalev?

[Hougigo]

What are Cleverly's best performances? Also, who has Cleverly fought that has similar power to Kovalev?

Somebody said Bellew.
I don't know if I read it from an article or a comment, but somebody said Bellew hit Cleverly with the hardest shot he could ever muster and Cleverly took it without even noticing it

[mathed]

this is going to be a great card for real

[Bushidō]

that's funny, I'm confident that Kovalev will punish Cleverly

[Dirk Diggler UK]

What are Cleverly's best performances? Also, who has Cleverly fought that has similar power to Kovalev?

There aren't that many fighters with similar power to Kovalev so no one.

Although Kovalev is actually going to be fighting someone that punches back this time.