Cleverly must smarten up soon

As the dusts settles on a magnificent fight in Liverpool, Nathan Cleverly travelled back to Wales with his WBO Light Heavyweight championship in hand.

Installed as the clear favourite before the fight, many punters – including me – were surprised by how well Tony Bellew performed. With a ranking of only 15 coming into the fight, Bellew’s reputation can only have grown despite the defeat. Maybe it was due to the clear enmity between both fighters that drew out a performance that nobody expected to see but regardless, Bellew can look forward to another good couple of years in the ring and possibly another world title shot.

The fact that the fight was shown on the newly installed ‘home of boxing’ Boxnation and not on Sky Sports didn’t help the promotion but the channel is a welcome addition – mainly because it’s free – and with fights like Burns vs Katsidis and Groves vs Smith they haven’t just snapped up minnows. And for the fans that did watch the fight, they got a treat with Cleverly quickly becoming a big UK box office draw.

The Welshman is quickly gaining a reputation of a showman with the ‘CLEV’ headband. His posturing around the ring before the fight, his full speed charge at Bellew at the bell and his dancing in the second round after a ten second barrage are all signs of a man who likes a tear up.

But if Cleverly wants to take another step up and take on the likes of Hopkins, Pascal and Dawson he needs to smarter. After admitting that he had only watched two rounds of Bellew in action before the fight and his history of showmanship against Murat and Mohammedi are concerning. Although he says that his training regime with his father Vince is the perfect combination, I would be happier if he had a little experience behind him if he is to progress.

For a man who holds a BSC in mathematics and is technically one of the best boxers in Britain, Cleverly’s displays of character in the past year and a half show that he is not quite ready for the jump up in class yet. Thankfully, the planned unification fight against the winner of Dawson and Hopkins looks a massive doubt due to the controversial circumstances of Dawson’s win and with Jean Pascal already calling out Dawson, Cleverly has been shunted down the list.

If I was Warren, I would like to see Cleverly have a match against Shumenov – the current WBA champion – which is certainly a winnable fight and would make the Welshman hold two of the four belts before he starts looking at guys like Dawson and Cloud. But looking at his fights, Clev would certainly be entertaining whoever he next steps in the ring with.