Tony Bellew admires Nathan Cleverly after losing to him via majority decision – Boxing news
The reigning British and Commonwealth light heavyweight champion, Tony Bellew, has finally admitted that the current World Boxing Organisation light heavyweight world champion, Nathan Cleverly, is a very skilled boxer after the Brit tasted defeat for the
first time in his career last Saturday.
The Wavertree Bomber, Bellew, met Cleverly for his WBO title on October 15, 2011 at the Liverpool Echo Arena in Merseyside. It was an enthralling battle that went all 12 rounds but in the end it was the Welshman who was awarded a majority decision over Bellew
with scores of 114-114, 116-113 and 117-112.
The 28-year-old Bellew always taunted Cleverly as a pugilist who only possesses a single counter attack but his thoughts have now changed as he saw the 24-year-old Cleverly continuously walking forward through his punches with a motive to fight.
Bellew, who now holds a record of winning 16 of his 17 professional fights, with 10 of his wins coming by the way of a knockout, after the bout admitted in front of the media that Cleverly impressed him a lot, as the Brit said Cleverly is a deserving champion
and he has a lot of respect for him.
While speaking on his inclusion, Tony Bellew said, “I take my hat off to him. He throws lots of punches and hits you with a lot of shots and they come from different angles. He's a good champion and well done to him. I've got lots of respect [for him].”
The undefeated Welsh prospect, Cleverly, who now holds a record of winning all of his 23 professional fights, with 11 of his wins coming by the way of a knockout, in the meanwhile also shared his feelings with the media. Cleverly stated he enjoyed fighting
Bellew.
Cleverly said, “Deep down I was enjoying it, slugging it out and putting on a display.”
Cleverly is now hoping to set up a mega unification bout with the Executioner, Bernard Hopkins, who lost his battle to Chad Dawson via technical knockout.
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