• Steve Bunce

Bored Cleverly needs Cloud clash

Nathan Cleverly got too close to Tommy Karpency, and that played into the American's hands as he tried to survive © Getty Images

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On Saturday, Nathan Cleverly did exactly what he had to against a guy who didn't want to fight. It's terrible to say that about someone who's in a world-title fight, but the awful truth is that after a couple of rounds, Tommy Karpency just wanted to survive.

I think everyone involved knew that was a potential risk given Karpency's history as a paid sparring partner to the likes of Roy Jones Jnr and Glen Johnson. But the feeling was that because he'd finally got his chance at a world title, he'd have a go. To be fair, he did for the first one, two rounds - and after that, he ducked, dived, rolled and just went for survival.

Nathan played into his hands to an extent: he got too close, and fell into a rhythm instead of genuinely trying to pick him apart. He did the same thing in too many rounds - he should have stepped back more, tried to throw a long shot. His punch output was very good, but too many of those blows were terribly repetitive, and lacked power because they were being thrown from extremely close range.

I'm not saying it was a bad performance by Nathan, because he won every second of every round, but I think he wants to be judged by higher standards, and he deserves to be judged by higher standards. In the cold light of day when he comes to analyse his performance, he will be disappointed he didn't do things slightly differently.

I keep reading and hearing people saying Nathan will get slaughtered by the other world champions - I think that's rubbish, because the Karpency fight was ideal preparation. He's had a good 12 rounds - not necessarily a brilliantly tactical 12 rounds, but it's 12 rounds he won't repeat. He won't fall into any traps like that again.

Plus Nathan will be a better fighter against a higher calibre of opponent, against guys who are braver and push him. He's a bright fighter, a smart fighter - in the ring against Karpency, he looked like he was a little bit bored.

In terms of his next move, Enzo Maccarinelli is a potential fight, but he's going for the British cruiserweight title against Shane McPhilbin in March - and there's no guarantee he'll get through that.

Then there's Tavoris Cloud, the American IBF champion. He's a good fighter who lacks for profile and fanbase, so I'm convinced a Cleverly bout could be made in Wales at some point this summer. It would sell, and sell well. There's always the dream of Bernard Hopkins somewhere down the line, but he's busy with Chad Dawson for the time being.

With Cloud, there is a definite form line: Gabriel Campillo drew with Karo Murat just last year, and Nathan has a stoppage victory over Murat on his CV. Campillo went on to fight Cloud, easily beat him but didn't get the decision. So I'm telling you, Cloud is not a big risk for Cleverly. And Cloud's people will take it - they think Nathan will be a walkover, like Jeff Lacy did (wrongly) against Joe Calzaghe.

Trust me, Nathan will put on the performance of his life and beat Tavoris Cloud. Cleverly wants Cloud over Maccarinelli if the money was the same.

As for Carl Froch, he should consider the offers that are on the table to fight Nathan Cleverly. If he says it's such an easy fight, why doesn't he get on the motorway and come and fight Cleverly at the Millennium Stadium?

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