Cleverly impresses in American debut!

Last night (November 10th) Nathan Cleverly stepped in to the ring to make the fourth successful defence of his WBO light-heavyweight title. He was only facing an unknown low-level American but it was his first time fighting in America and the perfect opportunity for him to impress the rest of the world in the same way he has done us Brits.

It was almost a punch perfect performance from the Welshman and he was in complete control throughout most of the fight. There were a few points when Hawk landed some solid shots but Cleverly just shook them off. After hundreds and hundreds of punches, "Clev" realised that he wasn't going to knock Hawk out with shots to the head so he instead chose to drop to the body. This proved to be a wise decision as he dropped twice with two body shots in the seventh round. Hawk just about managed to rise to his feet and survive the round but he never really recovered. He came out wearily in the 8th round only to receive even more punishment. Cleverly knocked him down once more before the referee decided enough was enough and stopped the fight.

Hopefully its on to bigger and better things now for Nathan Cleverly. The fans that already knew him didn't learn much about him in this fight but it was a great fight to showcase his skills to those who haven't seen him before. I still don't think he's done enough to earn a fight with the likes of Hopkins and Dawson but obviously I'd rather see him in with either of them than another opponent like this.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.