By Ben Carey
Nathan Cleverly suggested that he has the power to complement his silky boxing skills by producing a stunning fourth-round knockout to retain his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title against Kenya’s Douglas Otieno in Widnes on Friday night.
The rangy Cleverly, making the first defence of the title he won by outpointing Tony Oakey in October, dipped Otieno’s knees with a quick left hand in the opener and constantly beat the unknown Kenyan to the punch.
After boxing at range in the opening two sessions, Cleverly elected to go orthodox and take the fight to Otieno at close quarters in the third and repeatedly found the target with some thumping body shots which troubled the visitor.
Noticeably sitting down on his punches, Cleverly uncorked a tremendous right uppercut to the jaw which left Otieno out cold with 20 seconds remaining in round four with referee Phil Edwards failing to complete the formalities of the ten-count so that Otieno could receive medical attention. Fortunately, the outclassed Otieno was soon back on his feet.
The 21-year-old Cleverly, now unbeaten in 14 fights, recorded only the fourth stoppage victory of his career but ominously for his rivals the Welsh prospect seems to improving all the time. British champion and veteran Dean Francis will provide a far sterner examination of Math student Cleverly’s credentials when the pair meet in the Spring.
On the undercard, Manchester’s Matthew Hall took out his frustration on late sub Jason Rushton after missing out on his scheduled English light-middleweight challenge to Andrew Facey when champion Facey withdrew before yesterday’s weigh-in. Rushton absorbed some tremendous punishment from the heavy-handed Hall before being felled by a right hand in round four. The gritty Rushton bravely battled on until a short left hook floored the Doncaster man for a second time in the sixth which persuaded Micky Vann to intervene and protect Rushton for his own good. The tigerish Hall improves to 21-1 and will surely contest a title in the New Year.
Liverpool light-heavyweight prospect Tony “The Bomber” Bellew made it 8-0, five inside-the-distance, by flooring Hull’s Phil Goodwin twice with right hands to record a second round stoppage.
The sparse Widnes crowd witnessed a hat-trick of victories from the Smith brothers. Eldest brother Paul outpointed almost stopped Ciaran Healy in the second round after dropping the Irishman with a body shot but had to settle for a 60-53 points win in their middleweight six-threes match-up. Smith, now 25-1 (14), is chasing a rematch with Steve Bendall after being controversially outpointed by Bendall last year which cost Smith his English title and unbeaten record.
Promising featherweight prospect Stephen Smith, 5-0 (4), was taken the distance for the first time as a professional but swept every round against veteran Anthony Hanna to record a 40-36 points win. Liam Smith, the youngest Smith brother, faired better by knocking out John Van Emmenis in the first round to move to 2-0 (1).
The night’s remaining action saw featherweight Stevie Bell comfortably outscore journeyman Shaun Walton 60-55 in their six-rounder and fellow Manchester fighter Anthony Crolla decisioned John Baguley over four-three’s at lightweight.
