There is something deeply uncomfortable about the bitterness Tony Bellew has been directing towards Nathan Cleverly, a conversation that will be brought to some sort of violent conclusion when these excellent British cruiserweights collide in the Liverpudlian’s home town on Saturday night.

That is probably the point: Bellew wants the Welshman to feel uneasy in his presence. He insists his hatred of Cleverly is genuine. Quite why, he declines to say. Not many care, apart from the fighters and the promoters; certainly Sky subscribers being asked to pay extra for the privilege of watching Bellew and Cleverly settle their argument are more concerned they get their money’s worth.

In all likelihood, the fighters will embrace at the end of it, providing one of them is not rendered incapable of even that basic reconciliation.

It is a strategy not dissimilar to that which George Groves employed before he fought Carl Froch the first time. In that instance, the young Londoner’s mental taunting did indeed get to Froch, as did Groves’s strong right hand in the first round, but thereafter reality set in and they got down to the job of fighting, with Groves, justly or not, draped over the referee’s shoulder in defeat.

Interestingly, Groves toned down the vitriol for the rematch and, upon resumption of hostilities in front of 82,000people at Wembley Stadium, the very high point of his life, he was performing with disciplined efficiency against the crafty champion right up until the moment Froch timed his right cross to perfection behind an artful feint, and Groves was rendered senseless, tangled in the ropes. No more words needed.

While Bellew has carried his animosity all the way to the final week of this rematch – Cleverly deserved his narrow points win when they met as light-heavyweights in 2011 – he restricted himself to pro forma put-downs at the final press conference.

“When you punch you are at your most vulnerable and I only need one punch to land, just one,” Bellew said. “I am technically better than him. He’s not that good, he’s actually pretty poor technically, and I can’t see how he can out-box me. The only thing he has got is that he could out-work me, but like I say, if you just want to work with me and fire shots at me, you’ll be going to sleep. I’m not going to die going down the stretch and if that’s what he is hoping for, he is very, very wrong.”

Bellew carries a tad more power at his natural weight, and he has a good boxing brain – but the man from the valleys looks and sounds more controlled and disciplined coming into this fight. He has not always boxed as intelligently as might be expected of a Mensa-grade maths graduate but, if he learned anything from the four-round beating he took from the awesome Sergey Kovalev in surrendering his world light-heavyweight title last year, it surely was to avoid taking punishment for the sake of it: the core mantra of his career to that painful point.

There is more at stake in the Echo Arena than bragging rights between two alleged enemies. The winner puts himself in place for another shot at a world title. Bellew blew his chance against Adonis Stevenson, a puncher in the Kovalev class, and he too might have learned from that. But he has a history of recklessness every bit as long as Cleverly’s. The winner will be the one who can ignore the rhetoric and engage in some serious boxing.

“There’s an incredible amount riding on this fight,” Cleverly said. “It’s personal between us but I know what will happen to the winner. This fight is a gateway to a world title shot and the chance for me to make that two-weight world champion dream a reality. That rarely happens in boxing, only the best fighters achieve it, so for me to go on and do it, that’s what dreams are made of.

“I can’t imagine myself losing and it hasn’t crossed my mind because I am so confident of winning. I cannot allow this guy to beat me. I will meet him, trade with him, break him down and stop him – 2-0.”

Their styles should mess nicely but, irony of ironies aAfter all the talk, it is Cleverly who has the greater capacity to be the more annoying antagonist here, and I suspect he will provoke Bellew into the sort of indiscretion that will cost him precious rounds.

Bellew, at 31, is the older by four years but, with 27 fights, has had two fewer than his opponent. Who has more life in his legs and fists? I suspect it is Cleverly.