Cleverly vs Kovalev

[tofu1234]

Tale of the tape: Cleverly Kovalev Age 26 30 Stance O O Height 187cm 183cm Reach 74" 73" W/L/KO% 26/0/46% 21/0/86% I would like to get some views on Kovalev, who comes with a great reputation for his aggressive starts and ruthless nature when finishing of his opponents. If your a Boxing fan, you are probably already familar with 'Clev'. His level of opposition is questionable to say the least with his two best victories coming against Tony Bellew (close fight) and Karo Murat who was down for fighting Hopkins not so long ago. But you can also say the same for Kovalev. I have a feeling if Sergey was born in Britain we would be just as cynical towards him as we are towards the Welshman. Let's face it we all fall the grass is greener line some of the time and it is this attitude that is influencing the odds at the moment: Coral- Kovalev 10/11 BetFair- ' ' Evens PP- ' ' 4/5 bWIN ' ' 4/5 At the time of writing this I notice there appears to have been some significant lays on a Kovalev win on BetFair, which is my pick for this bout. The reasoning behind this decision revolves around three arguments. The first one is experience; looking at the stats you might be thinking there is very little difference between the two in terms of how many fights they both had. However when you look at rounds completed: Kovalev: 57 Cleverly: 171 And yes I am aware that power punchers will naturally fight less rounds then feather fisted types like Cleverly but again we have to take into account the level of opposition also. Earlier on I mentioned the opposition of Cleverly; Bellew and Murat are B level fighters at best. I would argue that the likes of a badly faded Campillo and a distinctly average White are C level opponents, these are the Russians two biggest wins. The second argument is styles. Take a look at the Campillo/White fights on YouTube and you will see that they both are very stationery, somewhat slow, stand up fighters. When a guy like Kovalev gets a chance to load up on his punches, he will take it. I think the problem he will have on the weekend is that Cleverly is more aggressive then the style of opponents Kovalev has been use to facing. Additionally, Cleverly has a very good chin and fantastic conditioning. If Kovalev fails with Plan A, which is essentially trying to catch the champion early then he will be in a situation he has never been in before. To summarise, the perception that it is Cleverly that is the unchallenged Boxer is false. Finally, let's consider who is making this fight. Frank Warren is a shrewd matchmaker, whatever you think of him on other issues you have to concede he very rarely gets it wrong when matching his fighters. The only mistake that comes to mind is Khan vs Prescott, although it was Khan's coach at the time that suggested Prescott as an opponent. Lay Kovalev 11/8 Betfair

[AllTorque]

Re: Cleverly vs Kovalev Cheers, fella. Followed you in on this. Seems like it's in with a good shot.