Is Nathan Cleverly overly hype or is just that Kovalev is extremely underrated?

Commentary│After Nathan Cleverly fought his Russian challenger, I read several articles that showed somewhat sympathy to his devastating fourth round knockout loss and blaming his promoter for the defeat.

Cleverly was defending his WBO light heavy weight title against a fighter who was also seeking recognition inside the squared circle, a 30 year old born in Russia, now residing in Florida, USA, named Sergey Kovalev.

A promoter would always make his fighters looked to be on the top. He will hype his fighter as much as he can. That is his job. Really, that is what it is. That is why he is called a promoter. His job is to promote. But promoting in a way that will make his fighter becomes complacent and overconfident against an opponent is another story.


A prizefighter should keep in mind that having a great promoter, which is excellent in doing his job, is an advantage to his career. But the fighter’s job is to keep oneself ready to any opponent that his promoter will put in front of him.

In the other side of the coin, a fighter, which is poorly promoter might be underrated. But this will not keep him from shining. Whenever there is an opportunity for a fight at another level, he will capitalize if he truly has the skill-and-will to be on the top. In the contrary, a over hype and also complacent well-promoted fighter, most of time, will get exposed.

I think this is the case between Nathan Cleverly and Sergey Kovalev.

Cleverly might not be ready at 26, to face the real Kovalev. But Cleverly will defeat the kind of Kovalev his promoter perceived. That is why I can see the confidence in Cleverly during the weight in.

Though, I’m not in the position to tell, whether Cleverly is complacent in training. Trainers are more inclined to know firsthand if their fighters have the chance against another fighter if scouted properly.

Cleverly was hype in a way that he will think he can easily handle Kovalev or any other opponent that might made him become less motivated.

As always, never underestimate you opponent.

I agree. Certainly, Cleverly will rebound from his defeat. He is young. He can work out his flaws.

Meanwhile, Kovalev is now recognized how potent his power and how good his jab.

In another note, I am not happy how the referee handled the fight. He is not supposed to aid a fighter to his corner. I am sick about hometown favoritism that Instead of trying to help the hometown hero, whom is not supposed to be done by a referee, it made Cleverly take more unnecessary punishment. The fight should have been stopped in the third round.