Nathan Cleverly Promises to push on in 2013...first up is....

So Nathan has come out and admitted that 2012 has been a year of slow progress but insists that 2013 will be a big year for him as he seeks the mega fights in the Light Heavyweight division...

Here is an extract from Sky Sports Website:

Nathan Cleverly is looking forward to a big 2013 after a year that saw just two low-key defences of his WBO light-heavyweight title.

The Welshman has taken a lot of flak for his fights against the unheralded pair of Tommy Karpency and Shawn Hawk, as his career stutters in the slow lane.

However, he is hoping promoter Frank Warren can seal some big match-ups in the New Year following an early mandatory defence.

"It has been a slow year but I think the American experience was very positive for me," he told the South Wales Argus of his recent victory over Hawk in Los Angeles.

"The fight went to plan, I got the stoppage win I wanted and I impressed some influential figures.

"Working at the Wild Card Gym with Freddie Roach was great too and is something I'll definitely think about doing again soon.

"I can only improve next year. Next up will probably be the mandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi in February.

"Once that is out of the way I'll concentrate on the bigger fights and making it a year to remember."

Those of you wondering who Krasniqi is:

He is ranked number 2 by the WBO so is the valid mandatory for the WBO Belt...

Yet he is ranked number 33 in the World & only 4th in Germany!!

Now from what I can understand Nathan is not required to defend the WBO title until June if he so wishes.

I know he gets a fair bit of stick on this board but I usually refrain from saying on the subject matter but to be honest I have now lost any interest in the bloke. He seemed more driven whilst he was studying for a degree alongside the boxing....since he has been fully pro he seems to just be going backwards.

If he has any intention of creating any kind of legacy then he really needs to get from underneath Warren's grubby hands.

Warren used to eventually get the big fights for his stable but I have noticed an emerging pattern in recent times. He seems to be rinsing as much out of these WBO title defences as possible while concentrating on getting BOXNATION viewers through putting on the American cards.

It really does annoy me how he was ready for Braehmer about 18 months ago and had the fight signed and ready to go which is the level he should be fighting at and was a great sign of intent but the guys he has faught since that fell through have been absolute rubbish (Bellew aside who is very average). It's been a massive backwards step.

I really do think the close fight with Bellew scared Warren and now he wont let Cleverly near anyone with a pulse when what he should be doing is continuing to fight at that level so Cleverly learns something. Very frustrating as I like Cleverly and his career is just stalling big time.

Cleverly and Burns need to jump ship so they can have a lasting legacy to be proud of as I'm sure neither of them would actively duck anyone and do want to fight the best but Warren is the one who makes the fights

Their fanbase is being hurt by boxnation and looking at the high viewing figures Degale (on Ch 5) and Bellew (sky) in comparison leaving warren is the right move. Neither Bellew or Degale have a world title so they shouldn't be getting more attention than Clev and Burns

Like you Ozzy have tried to give the Cleverly bashing a miss but he does invite this stuff, remember earlier in the year when his mandatory was someone half decent (name escapes me) and he was basically put aside, now the manatory represents no kind of challenge he is someone who simply has to be faced.

Am not going to join in the current trend of blaming Cleverly for all of boxings ills but wake me up when he fights someone.

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Cleverly and Burns need to jump ship so they can have a lasting legacy to be proud of as I'm sure neither of them would actively duck anyone and do want to fight the best but Warren is the one who makes the fights

Their fanbase is being hurt by boxnation and looking at the high viewing figures Degale (on Ch 5) and Bellew (sky) in comparison leaving warren is the right move. Neither Bellew or Degale have a world title so they shouldn't be getting more attention than Clev and Burns

I think thats harsh on Burns as he has faced some pretty decent opposition of late. I know his next fight is a joke but thats down to his scheduled opponent pulling out. And besides, who can blame him for taking an easier fight after the ones he has taken on recently.

You are in for a long nap, Jeff. We are now in for another year of everyone is ducking me while fighting nobodies. I have actively taken part in Cleverly bashing over the last 12 months and will continue until he steps up to the mark and fights a worthy contender at least. I do think he will be found wanting at that level, but I have been proven wrong on a fair amount previously and would love it if Cleverley showed himself to be world class as opposed to another Warren protected fighter.

Don't see how you can knock Cleverly for fighting his mandatory. (Assuming of course that he does actually fight him and not another last minute replacement.)

If he gets through Krasniqi it has to be a big name / unification fight next.

It's like deja vu all over again...

Easy to knock his mandatory when he has ducked a more credible mandatory previous (see Jeff's summary), which I said at the time would have been a step in the right direction. The mandatory then lost his next fight, suggesting this may have been an easier night work for Nathan, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. It looks like he has waited until an "easy" mandatory has come along, jumped up and said I will be fighting him and then moving on. If facts as stated are correct, he could easily delay the fight until June and put in a big name fight in March. But of course he doesn't really want that as this is very risky and why put at risk some pretty good comfortable pay days for one shot at glory. If some one is now going to tell me that Hopkins et al are ducking the Welsh Wizard, then you are living in a wonderful land of make believe. He actually offers them nothing, but a short holiday in the Valleys.

I think Sukhotsky is the name of the former mandatory we are scrabbling around for, wasn't that curtailed by injury?

Perhaps he should just ditch his belt that no-one really gives a monkeys about? Then he won't have mandatories and will be a free agent, so to speak...

Seems sensible enough to me anyway.

You are right with the name and he lost to Cornelius White last July. We do know that Cleverley has ducked his mandatory before as he decided to fight Karpency after he was instructed to fight the mandatory, saying he would fight the mandatory next. WBO played merry hell about that until they did a U turn 2 hours later. Warren obviously reminded them what the W really stands for in WBO! There was then all that rubbish last April about fighting Hopkins and suddenly an injury so he couldn't fight Sukhotsky. But he is well enough to fight that tour de force Hawk last month, who, surprise, surprise, was also not a mandatory.

I think I am going to have a lie down as I am beginning to sound like Gordy!

Woud tend to agree with Adam, Burns doesn't deserve to be tarred with the same brush as Cleverley. He'd need a few more easy defences before he fell into that category and I do get the sense with him that he is pushing to face the best opponents he can. A protected fighter wouldn't be taken on Katsidis and the unpredictable (Mitchell) - albeit Warren was in a win-win situation with that fight.

Plus he's Scottish and a Celtic fan so he gets a pass from me.

Aye, can't really fault Burns' opposition at all. Still wouldn't mind seeing him leave Warren and BoxNation, mind you, if only for the fact that I think he deserves more big time exposure and also because, while Warren has delivered him some very good opponents thus far, I doubt he'd be able to get Burns a huge Lightweight showdown and / or unification with the big, big names such as Broner or DeMarco, which I think Burns deserves.

88Chris05 wrote:Aye, can't really fault Burns' opposition at all. Still wouldn't mind seeing him leave Warren and BoxNation, mind you, if only for the fact that I think he deserves more big time exposure and also because, while Warren has delivered him some very good opponents thus far, I doubt he'd be able to get Burns a huge Lightweight showdown and / or unification with the big, big names such as Broner or DeMarco, which I think Burns deserves.

Think you're being harsh on Burns saying he deserves to fight Broner, Burns always comes across as a nice guy and he's done nothing to deserve the beat down that Broner would hand out to him. DeMarco on the other hand is a great fight for him.

bellchees wrote:

88Chris05 wrote:Aye, can't really fault Burns' opposition at all. Still wouldn't mind seeing him leave Warren and BoxNation, mind you, if only for the fact that I think he deserves more big time exposure and also because, while Warren has delivered him some very good opponents thus far, I doubt he'd be able to get Burns a huge Lightweight showdown and / or unification with the big, big names such as Broner or DeMarco, which I think Burns deserves.

Think you're being harsh on Burns saying he deserves to fight Broner, Burns always comes across as a nice guy and he's done nothing to deserve the beat down that Broner would hand out to him. DeMarco on the other hand is a great fight for him.

He's #4 in the Ring rankings... Broner isn't exactly a massive P4P superstar yet. I'd probably argue if either want to get to that status and are having 1 more fight at lightweight (can see Broner going north) they need each other just as much.

Wouldn't mind seeing him fight Vasquez either though.

i think burns opposition has been fairly decent, and shows how much warren doesnt rate clev. bellew is his best defense, and at the time looked useless on paper- he has gone on and done brilliantly since then, and id back him in a rematch.

if cleverly unifys after his mandatory ill eat my hat, its just another blag to buy him time till he can make an excuse for his next laughable fight. brahmer is back apparently and surely he should be given a chance since the title was never taken from him in the ring.

id even welcome clev vs enzo at this point thats how dire its become

eddyfightfan wrote:id even welcome clev vs enzo at this point thats how dire its become

Read that and my first thought was Enzo Calzaghe...

Doesn't Clev get embarrassed giving this 'I'm looking for big fights' spiel before naming each of his latest joke opponents? I remember Clev saying that Bellew didn't deserve his shot and that he was only giving it to him because of the bad blood at the presser - but Bellew has been the pick of the bunch in terms of his defenses! That's saying something. And Bellew ran him very, very close!

I think it's unfair to lump Burns in with Clev here. At least Burns has interspersed his joke match ups with some some quality wins e.g. Martinez, Katsidis, Mitchell, whereas Clev is now categorically one of the most protected 'champions' there is - having never fought anyone of note since he was handed his title by beating a nobody.

As far as I'm concerned, he's irrelevant on the world scene until he fights Dawson, Hopkins, Pascal, Cloud, Shumenov, Campillo, or Kessler. I only really see him beating Shumenov, and maybe Cloud out of that list.

Yeah, agreed on Ricky Burns who I think is determined to prove himself as a fighter worth taking deadly seriously.

My honest take on it is that were Cleverley not talking about big names between fights then there would be a bit more latitude shown towards him fighting B and C list challengers. If he doesn't feel he's ready for some of the big names indicated by Boxtthis and says nothing that contradicts it then the odd soft defence or three would be allowed to slide by many.

It's appearing to call out the likes of Hopkins while actually taking nothing fights that is the source of genuine annoyance IMO.

Clev is pretty much your standard boxer. See other threads talking about Canelo, JMM jnr, Mayweather, Pacquiao. Anything changed? Boxing is a con. Froch and a few others, that's it. Boring subject.

Ha...

Apologies for starting this boring thread Sean....

Feel free to get our tongues wagging with one of your own

Cleverly is just becoming a real parody of himself. Constantly "wanting the big fights" constantly fighting absolute nobodies, claiming Karpency was his toughest ever fight. How many times has he actually told the truth during an interview. I really do dislike him now, which is a shame because when he was fighting around domestic level I really liked him and wanted him to do well. Now I wouldn't mind if he got KO'ed and lost his little trinket.

It has reached a point where it would barely be able to raise an eyebrow if Warren announced Flintoff as Clev's next opponent. I can see the press conference now with Warren praising how brave Nathan is in moving up to heavyweight to take on an unbeaten fighter in his first ever fight at the weight

At least we'd see that wonderful mimicking of muralitharans bowling when freddie throws the right hand

Rowley wrote:It has reached a point where it would barely be able to raise an eyebrow if Warren announced Flintoff as Clev's next opponent. I can see the press conference now with Warren praising how brave Nathan is in moving up to heavyweight to take on an unbeaten fighter in his first ever fight at the weight

Well, Warren did arrange a world title fight for a reality TV contestant. Apparently, Jade Goody wasn't available so they went with the easier Peter Manfredo Jr

bhb001 wrote:

Rowley wrote:It has reached a point where it would barely be able to raise an eyebrow if Warren announced Flintoff as Clev's next opponent. I can see the press conference now with Warren praising how brave Nathan is in moving up to heavyweight to take on an unbeaten fighter in his first ever fight at the weight

Well, Warren did arrange a world title fight for a reality TV contestant. Apparently, Jade Goody wasn't available so they went with the easier Peter Manfredo Jr

Can't really comment on that one mate because to my eternal shame I actually went to that fight, in my defence I did get to see Enzo Mac vs Bobby Gunn on the undercard so was not a completely wasted journey.

Jeff, I am so sorry you had to endure that rip off. I wouldn't wish that on Gordy!

Rowley wrote:

bhb001 wrote:

Rowley wrote:It has reached a point where it would barely be able to raise an eyebrow if Warren announced Flintoff as Clev's next opponent. I can see the press conference now with Warren praising how brave Nathan is in moving up to heavyweight to take on an unbeaten fighter in his first ever fight at the weight

Well, Warren did arrange a world title fight for a reality TV contestant. Apparently, Jade Goody wasn't available so they went with the easier Peter Manfredo Jr

Can't really comment on that one mate because to my eternal shame I actually went to that fight, in my defence I did get to see Enzo Mac vs Bobby Gunn on the undercard so was not a completely wasted journey.

HAAHA!! I remember that fight!! Bobby Gunn was absolutely apalling, he must be a contender for the worst fighter to fight for a world title.

AlexHuckerby wrote:HAAHA!! I remember that fight!! Bobby Gunn was absolutely apalling, he must be a contender for the worst fighter to fight for a world title.

You leave Bobby alone. The guy is a Candian legend

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