I like Nathan....he hasn't been hyped up too much, nor overlooked by the media over here...which makes a change. The light heavyweight division is wide-open at the moment....the new blood of 175 lbers are slowly seeping through....and i think we'll see Nathan in at least title contention within 18-24 months. He's got a lot tougher fights to come but it is hard not to like what you see so far. Not yet read through the whole article, and i don't enjoy critiquing poster's work, but just a small point.....there's no mention of Nathan being a light heavyweight til quite some way through....probably just an oversight, but that information should be brought further up.
I like Cleverly a lot. He also has a great record. You always get better KO odds than you should, because he only has come into his own recently, after a lot of decisions, but with his dedication to bodypunching he can break down bums and older fighters effectively. The only fear I have for the Brancalion fight is that he seems legitimately pissed, because of all the postponements. Then he gets a little wild, and forgets to lay the grundwork, and just starts headhunting. Another question mark is his chin and defense, but he´s definitely too good to never win a world title at 175, who in the near future has Dawson, Cloud, Pascal, Campillo and not much else.
I wasn't over-awed seeing a couple of his fights,.. he reminds me of a southpaw Carl Froch, with less power and more speed. Dmitry Pirog is the much, much better Euro prospect,..much, much better.
Btw, Brähmer wasted Brancalion in one minute last year, dropped him three times. That was Brancalions last fight. You wrote that Brancalion hasn´t lost since 2007. Whether it´s a blatant lie or a mistake, you shouldn´t make it. It suggests you didn´t even look at this record, but seeing that you referenced the Kurzawa fight, that I probably saw live and can´t even remember, suggests that you looked at Brancalions record and decided to ignore the Brähmer result to make him look more credible. :nono: Othrwise I like your article, but that is a major f*** up. Although your conclusion is wrong imho. Cleverly will stop him.
What makes u think Brancalion would most likely last 12 with Cleverly when he had no intention to put up a fight against Brähmer in less hostile territory (I bet UK fans will be a lot louder + Cleverly at this point is a better fighter than Brähmer). :dunno:
It was verylate when I typed the article and I rewatched a few of his fights prior to writing (having checked boxrec for reference) but couldn't find the Brahmer fight (which I didn't see live) and thus apparently forgot about it...:doh: Apologies. I'll see if I can find the fight again and will amend the article once I finish work... MTF :bangh:
I'm still not convinced that Cleverly hits THAT hard, and with the fight now being in the UK, I suspect he might just play it safe knowing that a decision is a gimme barring a hideous performance. This is pretty much Brancilion's last chance saloon, too, and for that reason I'd expect him to put in a better shift this time. That said, I wouldn't be surprised by a Cleverly stoppage. MTF
Haven't read your article yet MTF, but I agree with the others, I quite like Cleverly, and I agree with Adam - it does make a change that the sickening British media and Sky team aren't rabidly salivating over his testicles, and yet he seems to be getting the right amount of coverage/attention. I only caught wind of him since he started stopping people/coming into his own, haven't seen his earlier fights, but he looks good. If he continues to improve, he should prove to be a pretty good fighter.
