If we think about fighters who have emerged from obscurity this year few rival the destructive Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20). Kovalev, who a year ago was fighting the likes of Lionell Thompson ad Darnell Boone. is now the WBO Light Heavyweight champion and a man that fans feel the need to watch.
The destructive Kovalev has had a career defining year in 2013 defeating the highly regarded Gabriel Campillo in 3 rounds, the world ranked Cornelius White, also in 3 rounds, and the then WBO world champion in 4 rounds. Although he has only been in 10 rounds of action through the whole year he left a pile of bodies in his wake and none are ever likely to be the same fighter they once were.
What Kovalev does so well is he destroys whilst doing the basics well. He's not the reckless force of nature like Srisaket Sor Rungvisai but is a calm and controlled wrecking ball who uses a high work rate, lots of sharp straight shots and a grinding mentality. He seems to know that whilst no single show may take an opponent out cold his sheer work rate will break them mentally and physically, as shown against Cleverly who was a broken man after just 3 rounds.
What Kovalev also has, as well as his work rate and heavy hands, is the mentality that even if he takes one he'll have the opponent backing up taking the power off the shot anyway. No one wants a tear up with this guy and with good reason, he's a monster!
Whilst Kovalev has gone from total obscurity to world champion in the space of two years his challenger, Ismayl Sillakh (21-1, 17), has gone from a promising fighter to who?
Sillakh was once viewed as a superstar in the making with flair, a fun to watch style and similarities to Roy Jones Jr. Unfortunately a set back loss to Denis Grachev last year took all his momentum and left many wondering whether or not he had the chin to go up to the next level. He had the skills, and power for sure but if a fighter hasn't got the ability to take a punch then they will always have question marks over their head.
Whilst Sillakh has bounced back from the loss to Grachev with with 4 victories, including 3 by stoppage, they have been against very weak opponents and the step up from them to Kovalev is a massive step up. A step up that I can't see Sillakh making at this point in time.
Although certainly dangerous I have a feeling that Sillakh will walk on to a bomb at some point and Kovalev, one of the best finishers in the game, will turn it up forcing the referee to save Sillakh. And by that I aren;t using Howard Foster's definition of saving a fighter, if Sillakh is allowed to continue whilst hurt he will almost certainly end up in hospital due to Kovalev's destructiveness.
Prediction-Kovalev TKO5
Showing posts with label WBO Light Heavyweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBO Light Heavyweight. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Nathan Cleverly v Sergey Kovalev
Although the Light Heavyweight division has lacked exciting fights in recent years one man seems to have come under a lot more criticism than perhaps he should have.
Welshman Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12), the current WBO Light Heavyweight champion, seems to have been under-attack from every direction. British fans have tired of Frank Warren talking a good game about Cleverly whilst completely failing to deliver, international fans have grown bored of Warren talking about Cleverly fighting top international fighters and even top fighters seem to have gotten sick of their names just being linked to Cleverly.
Thankfully fans, who have been calling for Cleverly to fight a real challenger, have finally gotten their own way as he takes on unbeaten Russian puncher Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19). A challenger who seems to be wake of destruction behind him fight after fight after fight.
Although Cleverly has never looked in any danger of being stopped in his 26 contests so far his chin is still a bit of a question to me. Many around the sport will tell you he's been thoroughly chin checked though in all honesty the biggest puncher he has faced to date has been Tony Bellew, a fighter who's power is genuinely unproven, especially at the world level.
The only world level facets Cleverly has proven to have is a world level work rate. The guy, when he's in a rhythm simply doesn't stop throwing. In all honesty his engine is probably the best seen in and around the Light Heavyweight division since former training mate Joe Calzaghe, though unlike Calzaghe he's not got the proven skills to combine with his engine. That's not to say Cleverly is unskilled, just not as highly skilled as Calzaghe.
Having been a world champion for over 2 years Cleverly's opponents have been poor, there is no way of defending that, though the division of course hasn't been awash with talent, like, for example the current Flyweight division, it hasn't been as bad as Cleverly has been making it look. Unfortunately he's missed on defining wins over the likes of Gabriel Campillo to instead fight the likes of, uh, Shawn Hawk.
On man who did score a defining, and highly impressive victory over Campillo was Kovalev who earlier this year dismantled the talented Spanish fighter in 3, one sided rounds in a performance that really put him on the boxing map.
With the HBO hype machine well behind Kovalev his raise through the ranks has been quick. Just 2 years ago he was a relative unknown fighting Grover Young, now however he's one of the most highly rated Light Heavyweights on the planet. In fact, some people already rank Kovalev as a better fighter than Cleverly despite Cleverly's status as a world champion.
The rise from prospect to highly ranked contender took Kovalev just 18 rounds as he defeated Roman Simakov, Darnell Boone, Lionell Thompson, Campillo and most recently Cornelius White, all 5 victories coming by T/KO.
Kovalev, like both Lucas Matthysse and Gennady Golovkin has not fight changing power but fighter changing power. The power in the fists of Kovalev isn't just concussive, but is confidence destroying. He lands and a fighter who thought he could win when the first bell went suddenly realises they are in with no chance. A typically skilled boxer feels their legs turn to jelly, a brawler becomes a runner and a hunter becomes the hunter.
With Cleverly often showing a propensity to brawl he's in for trouble. He lacks the power needed to keep a world class fighter honest and Kovalev is a world class fighter with elite class power. The supposedly tough chin of Cleverly isn't just going to be checked here, but is likely going to be destroyed. The first few rounds might not see it happen but sooner or later Cleverly is going to be in a world of trouble that he simply cannot escape from.
Prediction-Kovalev TKO7
Welshman Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12), the current WBO Light Heavyweight champion, seems to have been under-attack from every direction. British fans have tired of Frank Warren talking a good game about Cleverly whilst completely failing to deliver, international fans have grown bored of Warren talking about Cleverly fighting top international fighters and even top fighters seem to have gotten sick of their names just being linked to Cleverly.
Thankfully fans, who have been calling for Cleverly to fight a real challenger, have finally gotten their own way as he takes on unbeaten Russian puncher Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19). A challenger who seems to be wake of destruction behind him fight after fight after fight.
Although Cleverly has never looked in any danger of being stopped in his 26 contests so far his chin is still a bit of a question to me. Many around the sport will tell you he's been thoroughly chin checked though in all honesty the biggest puncher he has faced to date has been Tony Bellew, a fighter who's power is genuinely unproven, especially at the world level.
The only world level facets Cleverly has proven to have is a world level work rate. The guy, when he's in a rhythm simply doesn't stop throwing. In all honesty his engine is probably the best seen in and around the Light Heavyweight division since former training mate Joe Calzaghe, though unlike Calzaghe he's not got the proven skills to combine with his engine. That's not to say Cleverly is unskilled, just not as highly skilled as Calzaghe.
Having been a world champion for over 2 years Cleverly's opponents have been poor, there is no way of defending that, though the division of course hasn't been awash with talent, like, for example the current Flyweight division, it hasn't been as bad as Cleverly has been making it look. Unfortunately he's missed on defining wins over the likes of Gabriel Campillo to instead fight the likes of, uh, Shawn Hawk.
On man who did score a defining, and highly impressive victory over Campillo was Kovalev who earlier this year dismantled the talented Spanish fighter in 3, one sided rounds in a performance that really put him on the boxing map.
With the HBO hype machine well behind Kovalev his raise through the ranks has been quick. Just 2 years ago he was a relative unknown fighting Grover Young, now however he's one of the most highly rated Light Heavyweights on the planet. In fact, some people already rank Kovalev as a better fighter than Cleverly despite Cleverly's status as a world champion.
The rise from prospect to highly ranked contender took Kovalev just 18 rounds as he defeated Roman Simakov, Darnell Boone, Lionell Thompson, Campillo and most recently Cornelius White, all 5 victories coming by T/KO.
Kovalev, like both Lucas Matthysse and Gennady Golovkin has not fight changing power but fighter changing power. The power in the fists of Kovalev isn't just concussive, but is confidence destroying. He lands and a fighter who thought he could win when the first bell went suddenly realises they are in with no chance. A typically skilled boxer feels their legs turn to jelly, a brawler becomes a runner and a hunter becomes the hunter.
With Cleverly often showing a propensity to brawl he's in for trouble. He lacks the power needed to keep a world class fighter honest and Kovalev is a world class fighter with elite class power. The supposedly tough chin of Cleverly isn't just going to be checked here, but is likely going to be destroyed. The first few rounds might not see it happen but sooner or later Cleverly is going to be in a world of trouble that he simply cannot escape from.
Prediction-Kovalev TKO7
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Nathan Cleverly v Robin Krasniqi
In the biggest fight on British soil this coming weekend unbeaten Welshman Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12) defends his WBO Light Heavyweight title against mandatory contender Robin Krasniqi (39-2, 15). The bout, the headline fight at Wembley appears to be a good one on paper though with promoter Frank Warren attempting to prove he's still a big force in British boxing this may not have been the match up he'd have wanted Cleverly to be in, though it does look rather interesting, on paper at least.
With Krasniqi, a 26 year old German having almost 40 wins to his name it's fair to say he's not the worst fighter on the planet, though it's hard to really understand how the WBO have come to the idea that he's the #1 contender (then again with the WBO lets just say nothing shocks us any more). Despite his rather odd ranking he's certainly been on an excellent run since January 2006 winning 38 straight fights and claiming the very lightly regarded WBO European Light Heavyweight title (I guess that explains the ranking!).
Whilst Krasniqi's winning run has, at least in terms of raw numbers, been very impressive when you actually dig a little deeper you'll notice the type of guys he's been facing. Fighters like Alexander Sipos (a former European Middleweight title challenger) and Max Heyman who really aren't very good. In fact there is not a single opponent on Krasniqi's record that would be recognised as the type of fighter that would prepare someone for a world title fight.
Going in to this bout Krasniqi is not only on a winning run but also a 4 fight stoppage streak. Though it's these stoppages that probably tell us more about Krasniqi than most would imagine. In a number of his fights where he feels he can stop an opponent he becomes very right hand happy and throws wild, looking rights that look they were thrown from a whole different town. Against a low level opponent Krasniqi has been able to get away with this though when he's facing a talented fighter like Cleverly he's going to be countered and hit cleanly as he opens up (if he actually gets a chance).
Whilst Krasniqi is rather unknown the champion, Cleverly is really well known in boxing circles, at least in Britain. He first came on to the professional scene as part of the Calzaghe camp though has since become a bit of a local star in his own right after the retirement of "The Welsh Dragon". Despite moving from the Calzaghe camp to being trained by his own father Cleverly still shows traits of the Enzo Calzaghe school of boxing which includes having a fantastic engine, great work rate and fast hands.
Although Cleverly isn't known as much of a puncher he does actually have respectable power when he sits on his shots and his body shots are very much an under-rated part of his game. If an opponent refuses to respect his power he can hurt them with either a single shot or a long series of unanswered shots. Rather interestingly though is the fact that Cleverly does seem capable of taking a decent shot, admittedly we've never seen him in with a world class puncher but he's taken shots from respectable punchers with out ever looking hurt.
Cleverly does of course have his critics, mostly those who criticise his loyalty to Frank Warren (who keeps serving up pish poor defenses whilst promising bigger fights) and of course the poor match ups he;s involved in, though this cannot take away from the fact he is a very decent fighter in his own right. Sure he may have once been Joe Calzaghe's under-study but right now the 26 year old from Cefn Fforest is arguably the 4th best Light Heavyweight on the planet. I think he'll manage to show the huge gulf in class between himself and Krasniqi here with the German not belonging anywhere near the top 10.
Prediction-Cleverly TKO8
With Krasniqi, a 26 year old German having almost 40 wins to his name it's fair to say he's not the worst fighter on the planet, though it's hard to really understand how the WBO have come to the idea that he's the #1 contender (then again with the WBO lets just say nothing shocks us any more). Despite his rather odd ranking he's certainly been on an excellent run since January 2006 winning 38 straight fights and claiming the very lightly regarded WBO European Light Heavyweight title (I guess that explains the ranking!).
Whilst Krasniqi's winning run has, at least in terms of raw numbers, been very impressive when you actually dig a little deeper you'll notice the type of guys he's been facing. Fighters like Alexander Sipos (a former European Middleweight title challenger) and Max Heyman who really aren't very good. In fact there is not a single opponent on Krasniqi's record that would be recognised as the type of fighter that would prepare someone for a world title fight.
Going in to this bout Krasniqi is not only on a winning run but also a 4 fight stoppage streak. Though it's these stoppages that probably tell us more about Krasniqi than most would imagine. In a number of his fights where he feels he can stop an opponent he becomes very right hand happy and throws wild, looking rights that look they were thrown from a whole different town. Against a low level opponent Krasniqi has been able to get away with this though when he's facing a talented fighter like Cleverly he's going to be countered and hit cleanly as he opens up (if he actually gets a chance).
Whilst Krasniqi is rather unknown the champion, Cleverly is really well known in boxing circles, at least in Britain. He first came on to the professional scene as part of the Calzaghe camp though has since become a bit of a local star in his own right after the retirement of "The Welsh Dragon". Despite moving from the Calzaghe camp to being trained by his own father Cleverly still shows traits of the Enzo Calzaghe school of boxing which includes having a fantastic engine, great work rate and fast hands.
Although Cleverly isn't known as much of a puncher he does actually have respectable power when he sits on his shots and his body shots are very much an under-rated part of his game. If an opponent refuses to respect his power he can hurt them with either a single shot or a long series of unanswered shots. Rather interestingly though is the fact that Cleverly does seem capable of taking a decent shot, admittedly we've never seen him in with a world class puncher but he's taken shots from respectable punchers with out ever looking hurt.
Cleverly does of course have his critics, mostly those who criticise his loyalty to Frank Warren (who keeps serving up pish poor defenses whilst promising bigger fights) and of course the poor match ups he;s involved in, though this cannot take away from the fact he is a very decent fighter in his own right. Sure he may have once been Joe Calzaghe's under-study but right now the 26 year old from Cefn Fforest is arguably the 4th best Light Heavyweight on the planet. I think he'll manage to show the huge gulf in class between himself and Krasniqi here with the German not belonging anywhere near the top 10.
Prediction-Cleverly TKO8
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Nathan Cleverly v Shawn Hawk
When you're a world champion you have expectation on your shoulders, especially when you're in a competitive weight division and your either American or British. Sadly for WBO Light Heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (24-0, 11) his competition has, in recent years, really fallen below an "acceptable" level and things don't get better with his up coming defense against late stand in Shawn Hawk (23-2-1, 17).
Thankfully for Cleverly, this fight isn't totally his fault. Originally he was meant to fight in his native Wales against the highly ranked Ukrainian Vyacheslav Uzelkov (27-2, 16), that was however scrapped so that Cleverly could face unbeaten American Ryan Coyne (21-0, 9) in a show case bout. Sadly that bout was scrapped when Coyne's promoter, Don King stepped in and prevented it from taking place. With only a week left, Hawk eventually accepted the bout, despite a number of complaints and other offers, including one from unbeaten American Cedric Agnew.
Sadly this is the world of boxing and what at first looked like an interesting defense for Cleverly has become nothing more than a joke bout that has to be, rightly, criticised. Whilst it's easy to blame Don King for preventing the Coyne fight, that fight it's self hardly looked competitive and instead the blame needs to lie with Cleverly's promoter Frank Warren who has been too busy riding the coat tails of other, better known fighters than actually getting his fighter a decent fight. The Uzelkov fight was decent enough, though the division also has fighters like Cornelius White (20-1, 16) and Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9) who are both deserving of a world title fight, unlike Coyne and Hawk.
Anyway with that said Cleverly himself isn't a bad fighter. At just 25 years old he has time to get the recognition he likely feels he deserves and although he'll often have his reign criticised this shouldn't take away from the fact that the young Welshman is talented. Cleverly however not only has poor defenses hanging over his head but also the fact he will for ever be linked with former training partner Joe Calzaghe, a fighter who himself had numerous poor defenses before making a name for himself later in his career.
Cleverly is a fighter who is still developing and whilst he'll never be a thunderous puncher he is an aggressive and hard working fighter who appears to have a genuinely sensation engine (one thing he certainly picked up from his time with Calzaghe). He's relentless and can break fighters down on that relentless work rate, as he did with Karo Murat in arguably his best win to date. Despite often bringing pressure, Cleverly, at his best, is actually a genuinely talented boxer who can hit and move, and this was what he did earlier in his career when arguably he was testing himself more against the likes of Tony Oakey, Danny McIntosh (who was then unbeaten) and Antonio Brancalion. Sadly the hitting and moving seems to have gone from his game and replaced by the more exciting brawling that has almost seen him lose to the likes of Tony Bellew and Nadjib Mohammedi.
Sadly for someone who enjoys a tear up Cleverly hasn't got the hurtful 1-punch power, in fact, the Murat stoppage aside, it's hard to really say with "world" level opponent Cleverly has stopped (with Aleksy Kuziemski being his only other stoppage win in the past 2 years). As well as the lack of power, Cleverly also lacks a true defense, especially when brawling, and whilst his chin does seem to be solid, he's taking a lot of shots which will have a cumulative effect over his career, especially at world level.
After title defenses against the likes Aleksy Kuziemski (who took the fight at just a few days notice), Tony Bellew (who had never previously stepped beyond Commonwealth level) and Tommy Karpency (who genuinely was awful) it should be perhaps no surprise to say that Hawk is average at best. Despite his record of 23-2-1 (17) the man dubbed "The Sioux Warrior" is not expected to be a real challenge and with good reason.
Hawk has been a professional since 2004 (a year longer than Cleverly) started his career well running up 13 straight wins 11 by TKO as he fought at Cruiserweight. Sadly for Hawk (and those thinking he may be a big puncher) these wins were against real scrubs in Washington and Idaho and when he faced semi-decent fighter, Ed Perry, Hawk could only muster up a draw.
Just 2 years after drawing with Ed Perry, Hawk would suffer his first professional loss as Cruiserweight Matt Godfrey clearly defeated him over 10 rounds in arguably Hawk's biggest fight to date. This loss saw Hawk falling to 18-1-1 (16), a record still befitting that of a puncher, though he was still with out a recognisable victory on his record, in fact it wasn't until 2010 that Hawk got his first noteworthy win as he took a victory over former world title contender Rubin Williams. The victory over Williams was followed by Hawk's most notable victory, a decision win over Otis Griffin, sadly however this did come against a very faded fighter and it did also see Hawk getting knocked down and really struggling to the decision.
Since defeating Griffin Hawk as beaten Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan (via a 10 round decision) and lost to to the quick Colombian Eleider Alvarez (who himself would have been a more acceptable challenger than Hawk). Alvarez, at the time taking part in just his 9th professional bout, really dominated Hawk, winning 11 of the 12 rounds on 2 of the 3 cards (and winning 10 rounds on the final card). Worryingly the Alvarez fight was actually the most recent fight of Hawk's career taking place just 5 months ago.
For Cleverly this is little more than a chance to make a name in the US. Sadly he doesn't have the ability, or the power to make a big splash, though hopefully a decent performance will help him land fights with the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson or Tavoris Cloud, all of which I think could beat him. Anything less than scorecards of 117-111 should be seen as a failure by Clverly who really needs to either a stoppage or a white wash for this not to have been a real waste of time.
Prediction: Cleverly UD
Thankfully for Cleverly, this fight isn't totally his fault. Originally he was meant to fight in his native Wales against the highly ranked Ukrainian Vyacheslav Uzelkov (27-2, 16), that was however scrapped so that Cleverly could face unbeaten American Ryan Coyne (21-0, 9) in a show case bout. Sadly that bout was scrapped when Coyne's promoter, Don King stepped in and prevented it from taking place. With only a week left, Hawk eventually accepted the bout, despite a number of complaints and other offers, including one from unbeaten American Cedric Agnew.
Sadly this is the world of boxing and what at first looked like an interesting defense for Cleverly has become nothing more than a joke bout that has to be, rightly, criticised. Whilst it's easy to blame Don King for preventing the Coyne fight, that fight it's self hardly looked competitive and instead the blame needs to lie with Cleverly's promoter Frank Warren who has been too busy riding the coat tails of other, better known fighters than actually getting his fighter a decent fight. The Uzelkov fight was decent enough, though the division also has fighters like Cornelius White (20-1, 16) and Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9) who are both deserving of a world title fight, unlike Coyne and Hawk.
Anyway with that said Cleverly himself isn't a bad fighter. At just 25 years old he has time to get the recognition he likely feels he deserves and although he'll often have his reign criticised this shouldn't take away from the fact that the young Welshman is talented. Cleverly however not only has poor defenses hanging over his head but also the fact he will for ever be linked with former training partner Joe Calzaghe, a fighter who himself had numerous poor defenses before making a name for himself later in his career.
Cleverly is a fighter who is still developing and whilst he'll never be a thunderous puncher he is an aggressive and hard working fighter who appears to have a genuinely sensation engine (one thing he certainly picked up from his time with Calzaghe). He's relentless and can break fighters down on that relentless work rate, as he did with Karo Murat in arguably his best win to date. Despite often bringing pressure, Cleverly, at his best, is actually a genuinely talented boxer who can hit and move, and this was what he did earlier in his career when arguably he was testing himself more against the likes of Tony Oakey, Danny McIntosh (who was then unbeaten) and Antonio Brancalion. Sadly the hitting and moving seems to have gone from his game and replaced by the more exciting brawling that has almost seen him lose to the likes of Tony Bellew and Nadjib Mohammedi.
Sadly for someone who enjoys a tear up Cleverly hasn't got the hurtful 1-punch power, in fact, the Murat stoppage aside, it's hard to really say with "world" level opponent Cleverly has stopped (with Aleksy Kuziemski being his only other stoppage win in the past 2 years). As well as the lack of power, Cleverly also lacks a true defense, especially when brawling, and whilst his chin does seem to be solid, he's taking a lot of shots which will have a cumulative effect over his career, especially at world level.
After title defenses against the likes Aleksy Kuziemski (who took the fight at just a few days notice), Tony Bellew (who had never previously stepped beyond Commonwealth level) and Tommy Karpency (who genuinely was awful) it should be perhaps no surprise to say that Hawk is average at best. Despite his record of 23-2-1 (17) the man dubbed "The Sioux Warrior" is not expected to be a real challenge and with good reason.
Hawk has been a professional since 2004 (a year longer than Cleverly) started his career well running up 13 straight wins 11 by TKO as he fought at Cruiserweight. Sadly for Hawk (and those thinking he may be a big puncher) these wins were against real scrubs in Washington and Idaho and when he faced semi-decent fighter, Ed Perry, Hawk could only muster up a draw.
Just 2 years after drawing with Ed Perry, Hawk would suffer his first professional loss as Cruiserweight Matt Godfrey clearly defeated him over 10 rounds in arguably Hawk's biggest fight to date. This loss saw Hawk falling to 18-1-1 (16), a record still befitting that of a puncher, though he was still with out a recognisable victory on his record, in fact it wasn't until 2010 that Hawk got his first noteworthy win as he took a victory over former world title contender Rubin Williams. The victory over Williams was followed by Hawk's most notable victory, a decision win over Otis Griffin, sadly however this did come against a very faded fighter and it did also see Hawk getting knocked down and really struggling to the decision.
Since defeating Griffin Hawk as beaten Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan (via a 10 round decision) and lost to to the quick Colombian Eleider Alvarez (who himself would have been a more acceptable challenger than Hawk). Alvarez, at the time taking part in just his 9th professional bout, really dominated Hawk, winning 11 of the 12 rounds on 2 of the 3 cards (and winning 10 rounds on the final card). Worryingly the Alvarez fight was actually the most recent fight of Hawk's career taking place just 5 months ago.
For Cleverly this is little more than a chance to make a name in the US. Sadly he doesn't have the ability, or the power to make a big splash, though hopefully a decent performance will help him land fights with the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson or Tavoris Cloud, all of which I think could beat him. Anything less than scorecards of 117-111 should be seen as a failure by Clverly who really needs to either a stoppage or a white wash for this not to have been a real waste of time.
Prediction: Cleverly UD
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