Cefn Fforest’s Nathan Cleverly retained his WBO light-heavyweight title to improve his record to 23-0 on Saturday night via majority decision after a gallant effort from Liverpool’s Tony Bellew (16-1).

The drama that followed the Cleverly-Bellew build up saw some focus on the actual fight diverted but the bout justified the pre-fight hype with a bit of everything displayed. There was non-stop action from the start and the judges saw Cleverly on top with scores of 116-113, 117-112 and 114-114.

In front of an almost sell out crowd at the Echo Arena, Cleverly was very much in the Lions Den but he revelled in the atmosphere and stayed determined to turn the arena into the Dragons Den. At times it took pure boxing to do that, at other times it took pure brawling. Cleverly simply wouldn’t be denied.

Both Cleverly and Bellew got down to fighting straight away, firing out piston like jabs to control centre ring. But it was only 30 seconds into the bout before referee Richie Davies was required as he read Bellew the riot act for leading with his head. Both got straight back to business and stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Cleverly’s overhand right caught the eye as it found space over Bellew’s left hand. 

The power of Bellew was a major talking point going in to the fight and he tested it in the second round. Bellew caught Cleverly with a right hand before the champion ducked and dived out the way of the follow up attack to disappoint the partisan crowd; raising his hands, stucking his tongue out and shaking his hips. In the following rounds the battle of the jabs commenced with Bellew’s busier but hitting leather while Cleverly’s drew blood from his opponents nose.

There was a break in round five as Richie Davies separated the pair to give Bellew time to recover after he received an accidental low blow. The action resumed at 100mph with Cleverly beginning to pick his shots by timing Bellew’s jab on the outside and ducking to rise with uppercuts on the inside as Bellew tried to impose his strength.

Cleverly winged in two flush left hooks in round six that rocked Bellew’s head back and the procession of the middle rounds saw Bellew’s work rate dip with Cleverly taking advantage as he spent much of the round stalking Bellew. The other middle rounds saw ring position bounced back and for, both warriors had to display defence and attack on the back and front foot, answering pre-fight questions from both sides that criticised the defences of both.

For the first time the fighters touched gloves at the start of round nine with respect evident and the battle of jabs recommenced with Cleverly scoring and beautifully skipping away. In the pre-fight hype Bellew often stressed his opinion that Cleverly couldn’t fight on the back foot but the Welshman seemed to make a point of being able to defend behind a tight guard, use his feet and turn his opponent from a defensive position.

Possibly the most dramatic round of the fight was the tenth. Early on Cleverly jolted Bellew’s head back with the overhand right he’d been looking for all fight, Bellew stumbled backwards but took the shot well and recovered to launch his own attack. For once Cleverly was caught waiting too long and he allowed ‘Bomber’ to get off first, the Evertonion did so with a rock solid right cross and both opened but missed before a left hook from Cleverly connected. It sent Bellew’s balance and weight on to his left foot which gave him the leverage to loop in a high hard right hand to Cleverly’s face. The Welshman took the shot well and he ducked the follow up attack then both fighters fell into a clinch and were separated by the referee.

The tenth round was a reminder to Cleverly that he was still in with a very live opponent and he needed to show his class in the championship rounds, which he did. Upping his work rate, Cleverly’s body attack had taken the gas out of Bellew. The Scouser’s own body attack was effective in parts but by the ending rounds he was fighting at a lower pace to what he’d had success with earlier. Dictating pace and ring position, Cleverly took the final two rounds with variation and shot selection.

The body language of both suggested they were mutually in agreement on who the winner was and there were admirable scenes when they did a lap of the ring arm in arm to a standing ovation from all in attendance. Cleverly now looks at a unification and targets WBA champion, Beibut Shumenov, while there are many great fights for Bellew to take to climb back to world title contention.

(picture courtesy of John McCormack )