As the final bell rang and the majority of the sell-out crowd here roared in approval, Tony Bellew raised his arms above his head, punched the air and smiled. He knew he had what he craved more than anything else – revenge over Nathan Cleverly. He beat his chest and waited for confirmation from the judges, and it came, with the only surprise being that it was a split decision.
A score of 116-112, 115-113, 114-115 seemed somewhat absurd in the circumstances given that by the end it was clear to the majority of those in attendance that Bellew had outpunched, outworked and generally outdone his Welsh opponent. Terry O’Connor, the judge who gave this fight to Cleverly, must have been watching another scrap in another city.
“It’s done, it’s over, I’ve outworked a great athlete,” said Bellew, with Cleverly admitting he had been beaten by the better man but pointing out it was now 1-1 in this bitter rivalry and that they should both give consideration to a third contest.
“If this can fill the Millennium Stadium I’ll hold it. I’ll fight anywhere,” Bellew replied, but in truth these fighters would struggle to fill a carpark after this contest, which was as gruelling to watch as it must have been to participate in, especially for Cleverly, who spent practically every second of the final four rounds pinned to the ropes as Bellew drove shot after shot, to the head and body, into his opponent.
What a shame after such an enthralling, acidic buildup, in which both fighters spat fury at each other and gave the sense that they genuinely despised each other.
Most of the hate came from Bellew and it was difficult to judge why he was so angry, bar being stung by the first contest between this pair, at this same venue, in October 2011. That was also a close affair but Cleverly, in his first defence of the WBO light-heavyweight title he had secured five months earlier, was a deserved victor.
Not that Bellew saw it like that, claiming ever since that he did not lose the fight and, ahead of their return to Liverpool, that Cleverly is a fraud who would be “put to sleep” in this rematch.
That did not happen despite a fast start from the scouser on scouse territory, who took the centre of the ring and looked to put his opponent from Wales on the back foot. The early rounds were marked by a series of thudding body shots from the 31-year-old and, while Cleverly took the hits, he gave little back bar a shot that cut Bellew above the right eye in the second round.
The 27-year-old appeared content to fight behind his jab and, after being pinned against the ropes in the fourth, took to swinging his arm over his shoulder in theatrical fashion. Cue boos from the raucous, partisan crowd.
Bellew continued stepping into his opponent, clearly keen to show how his superior power could make the difference, and into the seventh he again had Cleverly leaning on the ropes, taking a barrage of shots to the midriff. But the Welshman recovered and kept his opponent at bay with his jab.
It was becoming a frustrating encounter with Bellew unable to land any critical bombs and Cleverly doing little to force the contest. He appeared at one stage incapable of throwing his right hand despite several openings, leading to suggestions he had injured it.
By the end of the ninth round both fighters looked exhausted, Bellew from pinning his opponent back with a series of punches to the body and head that were not making a telling blow and Cleverly from simply taking the punishment.
That pattern continued until the end of the 12th, by which stage Bellew proved that he was far from a “fat heavyweight” who could not last the distance, while Cleverly’s claim that he had the superior workrate also looked a falsehood. He was spent, clearly waiting for the final bell to ring.
The first time these two fought was at light-heavyweight, this was at cruiserweight, a level at which Bellew is far more comfortable. And it showed. He can now look forward to another crack at a world title, a year after losing to WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. For Cleverly, it is a second loss in 12 months having been stripped of his title by the “crusher” Sergey Kovalev. He may not recover.
