Cleverly v Karpency Betting: What really happened against Bellew

Boxing Betting / Paul Moon / 21 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

Nathan Cleverly has been working hard to get into top shape ahead of his bout with Tommy Karpency

"Cleverly sparred for years with the best southpaw - Joe Calzaghe - but we witnessed another 90 rounds with southpaws of varying styles so there will be no surprises."

Some boxing fans weren't particularly impressed with Nathan Cleverly's performance against Tony Bellew. But there were mitigating circumstances and we're likely to see the best of the Welshman again when he's up against Tommy Karpency, says Paul Moon.

Some boxing fans were less than impressed with Nathan Cleverly's victory over challenger Tony Bellew in his last fight, especially given his desire of unifying the light heavyweight divisions. However, there were circumstances neither known nor recognised that need to be aired before we can look at his next fight in the proper light.

Cleverly sustained an injury to his ribs when sparring with Chris Eubank Jnr and in a rare acquiescence it was deemed serious enough for the British Boxing Board of Control to authorise a painkilling injection before the fight. The situation demanded a postponement so trainer Vince Cleverly made two anxious calls to the BBBC. Rescheduling was the only option but a pumped-up Nathan Cleverly, not wanting to be labelled a quitter, insisted on fighting despite the obvious subsequent disadvantage.

This gift to Bellew amounted to a lot more than the free hit on the chin Cleverly offered at an earlier press conference. The reported injury had been given to the Board of Control in strict confidence but within minutes, the Bellew camp knew of it. This gave the Liverpudlian braggart a fillip to aid his best-ever preparation. Consequently the injury was targeted with the champion spending precious fight-time protecting it.

The Frank Warren machine realised that Bellew had reached an ephemeral moment in his boxing career and something unlikely to be repeated. Team Cleverly readily acknowledged his massive effort. Warren confirmed that on that night Bellew would have been a handful to any light heavyweight champion and proceeded to talk up the performance.

An aside to the above was the disgraceful behaviour of the Bellew entourage, who used phrases like the 'slitting of throats' and it was accepted, that in part, the situation got to Cleverly. Despite the injury and intimidation, history will record that the boy from Cefn Fforest dealt with and then mastered Bellew in the most challenging of circumstances.

New challenger and southpaw Tommy Karpency has been given a ranking in the top 15 by the WBO for his 25 February 2012 clash with Cleverly at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. He was ranked 10 by the WBA. This has given the fight added patina along with the fact that the American has not been stopped in 24 fights, with just two losses.

When putting those statistics to Vince Cleverly he told Betfair: "We have spotted a fundamental flaw and aim to make full use of it - the fight will be over before the 10th round. Karpency jabs from too low a position, leaving him open to shots across the top." Nathan added: "The Battle of Bellew will be long forgotten after this one - for this fight I am physically and mentally in the same place. I will not be denied my homecoming, this is my first fight in Wales since 2007 and want to win it looking good."

Cleverly sparred for years with the best southpaw - Joe Calzaghe - but we witnessed another 90 rounds with southpaws of varying styles so there will be no surprises. The fight will be viewed on American TV with WBA champion Beibut Shumenov the most interested. Team Cleverly have targeted him but he is nervous about coming to the UK and wants to fight in the comfort of Las Vegas, with the lion's share of the purse.

Vince Cleverly adamantly believes elderly WBC champion Bernard Hopkins would not be able to cope with his son's non-stop combative action and the latter has already shown marked reluctance in signing up for a fight and that leaves the least able Tavoris Cloud the IBF champion. He has just claimed a controversial split decision verdict over Gabriel Campillo - the latter and most neutrals thought the verdict a disgrace! He remains the weakest of the four light heavyweight champions.

Latest Betfair prices show: Cleverly [1.05] Karpency [21] Draw [60].

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Boxing Betting: Nathan Cleverly v Aleksy Kuziemski

Boxing Betting / Paul Moon / 21 May 2011 / Leave a Comment

Paul believes Nathan Cleverly will be unshaken by his scheduled opponent's withdrawal

"The fact that new opponent Aleksy Kuziemski is an orthodox boxer will not be a problem because Cleverly had built the non-attendance of Braehmer into his training."

The markets are certain that Nathan Cleverly is set for another victory on Saturday night. Does Cleverly-aficionado Paul Moon agree?

Nathan Cleverly is the 11th boxing world champion to come from Wales and he did it 12 months quicker than Joe Calzaghe. He was awarded the WBO Light Heavyweight title after scheduled opponent Juergen Braehmer pulled out with a supposed eye injury. History will record that the German bottled it.

This columnist had been privy to both the planning for that fight and was staggered by the attention to detail. Every eventuality had been covered and the physical preparation first class. Not a single day of training was lost and the boxer never fitter or stronger. Nathan assured me that Juergen Braehmer would never have met such levels of fitness, strength and endurance before and the team had an inkling that he might dodge the fight because of it.

The German neither needed nor wanted this mandatory match. With only five rounds of boxing since 19 December 2009, he would have preferred yet another low-level defence in front of a partisan crowd, something that epitomised his career. The boxing media consensus was that if Cleverly boxed Braehmer he would win but if he fought him he would lose - not true according to the home camp. Nathan was supremely confident he had the tools to win in either fashion and wanted to prove it.

In his preparation Cleverly had completed close to 100 rounds of sparring with southpaws, including 32 with James DeGale, where at times there was a touch of temper. The fact that new opponent Aleksy Kuziemski is an orthodox boxer will not be a problem because Cleverly had built the non-attendance of Braehmer into his training. Besides, there is a big difference in class between these two fighters - it is worth reminding readers that Cleverly was trading at [1.57] and Braehmer [2.86] on the Betfair market before the plug was pulled.

After the Tony Bellew debacle some sanity was restored when Polish fighter Kuziemski was chosen for the fight. Ranked 11 by the WBO, he is three places higher than Bellew. His 23-fight record includes 21 wins though the highlight of his decent career was losing to Braehmer over 11 rounds. There is no knowing how fit he is but he remains a test bigger than the one Bellew would have posed.

One imagines the biggest danger to Cleverly was the pre-fight chaos. Promoter Frank Warren called the situation a 'total nightmare' and is genuinely worried about how his boxer deals with it. Boxing stalwart and matchmaker Dean Powell was less concerned, he told Betfair: "Nathan is a model professional. There has been no collateral damage whatsoever with the nonsense he has endured in the last 24 hours, in fact he has been magnificent."

Father and trainer Vince echoed those points adding: "We do not know what all the fuss is about. Nathan is relaxed but focussed, there will be no complacency and no excuses and he is confident of putting on a good show. Actually the Polish boy is tailor made for Nathan and he will knock him by the eighth or ninth round if not before."

This is a good time for Cleverly to be champion with plenty of options and a chance to unify the division. Some fights that could come about include Bernard Hopkins or all-British affairs against Carl Froch and James DeGale. One day the Tony Bellew fight could happen and that would make for interesting viewing.

Of course, winning the title is one thing but keeping it is another. Nathan reminded us that he does not consider himself champion yet, that will come at the end of the Kuziemski fight. He is treating tonight's bout as if he were the challenger. Latest Betfair prices show: Cleverly [1.06] Kuziemski [13.5] Draw [55.0].

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