Welshman Nathan Cleverly successfully defended his WBO light heavyweight title for the first time with a majority decision over Liverpool's Tony Bellew in a hard-fought, thrilling encounter at the ECHO Arena last night. Although there had been plenty of bad blood between the two combatants leading up to last night's encounter, there was nothing but mutual respect between the two after the fight's conclusion. Bellew had boxed magnificently, and had been leading on all three scorecards going into the final third of the fight, but the super-fit Cleverly simply never stopped coming, displaying a tremendous chin, colossal stamina and the heart of a true champion.

28 year old Bellew (16-1, 10 KO's) began the fight boxing beautifully behind his fast, machine-gun like left jab. In the early rounds Bellew made Cleverly look raw and almost amateurish, catching the Welshman time and again with double jabs and right crosses. By the fifth round, Bellew looked in control of the fight, and seemed to fancy his chances of causing a stoppage. Against the wishes of his trainer Jimmy Tibbs, Bellew began engaging Cleverly in bruising close-quarter exchanges, which ultimately were to ultimately play into the champion's hands. 

Although Bellew was initially holding his own in what was rapidly becoming trench warfare, one got the feeling that this form of combat suited Cleverly much more, and was draining the strength from the challenger.

By the seventh round, Bellew looked tired and Cleverly was coming on strong. Wheres Bellew was by now boxing flat-footed, Cleverly never stopped bouncing around on his toes, displaying excellent footwork. The champion was now mixing his shots up magnificently from head to body, and it was the body shots in particular that seemed to be doing the most damage to Bellew.

As they entered the final third of the fight, the tide had turned dramatically in the favor of the champion, and it seemed just a matter of time until he would score a TKO over the flagging Bellew. 

However, the 10th round was to see the two biggest punches of the entire fight –  a picture-perfect straight right hand by Bellew to the jaw of Cleverly that stunned the champion, followed-up by a blockbuster of a right which rocked him to his boots. The crowd were on their feet sensing a sensational knockout for Bellew, but to his immense credit, Cleverly displayed a great chin and excellent powers of recuperation,  dancing his way out of trouble and avoiding further punishment.

Bellew continued this new surge of momentum into the 11th , and went all out on the attack - winning the round convincingly – but it was to be his last hurrah.  

Going into the final stanza, the fans at ringside and the millions watching on TV courtesy of Frank Warren's excellent coverage via BoxNation knew the fight was desperately close. Bellew's spirit was willing, but his muscles were no longer able. He looked a spent force in the last round, yet went through the motions nevertheless, while Cleverly stepped up the pace, dominating the final 3 minutes.

Both men embraced at the final bell - all pre-fight animosity forgotten - and although Bellew celebrated like a winner, there was a look of resignation on his face. The official score line was 117 – 112 and 116 – 113, both for Cleverly, while the third judge had it a draw at 114 – 114.

Cleverly stated after the fight that his next target was current WBA champion Beibut Shumenov. Frank Warren, who promotes both fighters, said he intended to get Bellew a crack at the European light heavyweight title in the New Year.