Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he wants to put together a big rematch between his recently signed former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Nathan Cleverly (26-1, 12 KO’s) and former WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (21-2-1, 13 KO’s) as soon as Cleverly gets past his scheduled May 17th fight date at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, Wales.
Hearn doesn’t have an opponent picked out for Cleverly yet, but suffice it to say that it won’t be anyone good enough to worry the 27-year-old fighter any. This is Cleverly’s cruiserweight debut, so Hearn will make sure that he matches him softly so there’s no chance of a mishap. Hearn almost blew it with his matching of Bellew against 37-year-old Valery Brudov this month in a fight that Bellew took a beating and was staggered at one point in the fight in the 7th round.
“I’m very interested in making the Cleverly-Bellew fight,” Hearn said to IFL TV. “I’ve spoken to Nathan Cleverly last week, and it’s a fight he wants, and it’s a fight that Bellew wants. The first priority is May 17th, and then progress from there and try to make the Bellew fight.”
This makes a lot of sense for Hearn to try and make the Bellew-Cleverly fight as soon as possible before both of them start taking losses to other cruiserweights in the division. The British public will lose interest in a Bellew vs. Cleverly fight once either of them get beaten again. The time for them to get the money in a fight against other is right now, as neither of them can afford to wait on the fight.
If they were major talents like Marco Huck, Rakhim Chakhkiev and Thabiso Mchunu, then it wouldn’t be as important for them to face each other now. They would have enough ability to win over and over for the next year or two before facing each other. But Cleverly and Bellew are not in those fighters’ class, and there’s no way that they’ll be able to go for long without taking losses at cruiserweight, especially with Hearn wanting to match them against world champions as soon as possible.
