Tony Bellew to Return to Liverpool in April
by Thomas Hill on Jan 31, 2012 8:30 AM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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Tony Bellew will defend his British light-heavyweight title in Liverpool on April 14th against Danny McIntosh.
In October Bellew suffered the first defeat of his career when he lost on two of the scorecards against Nathan Cleverly for the WBO belt. 31-year-old McIntosh has previously lost to the then British and Commonwealth champ Cleverly back in 2009. Twelve months ago McIntosh picked up the European title before losing it in his first defence.
Speaking on Skysports Bellew said:
I feel I'm at World level now. Nathan Cleverly is a world-class fighter and in a lot of people's eyes I beat Cleverly, and I showed a lot of good tools that people didn't expect. Danny's a good European-level fighter but I feel I'm a World class fighter.
Coldwell Promotions will promote the fight and Promote Dave Coldwell added:
It's a pleasure to put on a big show like this for Liverpool, Tony Bellew is now one of the game's biggest names. He has been pushed to the forefront of British boxing after his fight with Nathan Cleverly and is defending his British title against a very dangerous opponent.
No offence to McIntosh but I don't see any other victor but Bellew in this fight in April. Bellew's performance against Cleverly was a valiant one, and his post fight conference really gave you the impression he was a humble guy outside the ring. I'm not too sure whether he could become a World Champion at the moment, I'd like to see him in a few more fights against some big name opponents to really make up my mind. Either way a see an easy defence for Bellew and hopefully a bigger test in the future.
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I think Bellew raised him game for Cleverly and he’s going to struggle to reach that level again.
Add in the fact that he’s chinny (Macintosh can hit a bit) and I don’t see it being quite so straightforward.
Also I haven’t seen anything from him (even in the Cleverly fight really) to suggest his career can go anything above Euro level
by Skeletor1982 on Jan 31, 2012 5:44 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
I don’t think he’ll ever legitimately be better than a domestic level fighter. Which is my way of saying I’m really starting to question whether or not Nathan Cleverly is very good.
Bad Left Hook
"The internet has undermined professionalism in journalism, which is a good thing." - Bill James
by Scott Christ on Jan 31, 2012 6:05 PM EST up reply actions
I would say that Cleverly is currently the best light heavyweight in Europe. That’s all you can say really. There’s nothing wrong with that, he’s a young undefeated guy making his way in the sport.
The problem (same with Canelo) is that he is a “world champion” and as such has to be judged against the best in the division – in this case B-Hop, Pascal etc. And in this comparison he doesn’t stack up. Yet.
by Skeletor1982 on Feb 2, 2012 3:58 AM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
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