NATHAN Cleverly is a boxing promoter's dream.

Just 21-years old, charismatic, talented, good looking, undefeated and with a perfect nickname he lives up to his surname and is currently doing a Maths degree at Cardiff University.

The clever boy' is a natural role model, he keeps company with a gym of champions and is referred to as my protégé' by none other than Joe Calzaghe.

Tomorrow Nathan makes his first appearance as a fighter in America, taking on Antonio Baker - who went the distance with Jermain Taylor - over eight rounds on the Calzaghe undercard.

As Bernard Hopkins himself observed, Cleverly is a young athlete who has done in eleven undefeated fights what it has taken Calzaghe eleven undefeated years to do, box in Las Vegas.

I have been as guilty as anyone in failing to scratch the surface with Cleverly, the university degree and perfect A levels (five As) just make for such easy headlines and introductions.

But this week it has been my pleasure to spend more time in his company, with literally hundreds of press men around it has been nice for both to see a familiar face, to finally scratch the surface.

Because Nathan Cleverly wasn't always book smart and ring smart, once upon a time, he was a troubled kid always getting into fights.

He explains: "I was a street fighter, I wanted to be a boxer but my mum wouldn't let me. From the age of eight I was a little thug at Phillipstown Junior School, it was a tough area and I didn't want to play football, I wanted to scrap.

"I had no discipline in my life, I have done well in education because of what I have learned in the ring.

"The turning point came when Joe Calzaghe became a world champion and I moved up to Blackwood Comprehensive School.

"My dad Vince is an entertainer, a singer and he knew Enzo Calzaghe from the singing circuit.

"When Joe won the world title dad persuaded my mum to let me box at the old Newbridge gym and I haven't stopped since."

Cleverly is relishing the chance to fight in Vegas. "Coming out here with Joe Calzaghe, now a friend but once my hero, is a dream come true," he admits.

But with expectation comes pressure. One of Frank Warren's biggest prospects, constantly being hyped as the next Calzaghe, Cleverly knows he has a lot to live up too, perhaps as much as any young boxer in Britain besides Amir Khan.

"I feel I have to work twice as hard to live up to the hype, I had a great run where I was tearing through opponents and I started to believe I was unbeatable," he said.

"But then in my last fight (against Joey Vegas) I was rubbish, I got careless and lazy and I could've lost.

"Former champions like Duke McKenzie and Barry McGuigan have taken the time to talk to me and give me advice, they told me I can make it to the top and I guess I let it go to my head.

"But now I have my focus back, I have had to do things the hard way, I turned pro early and never went to an Olympics or anything like that.

"I'd been around the gym since being a kid and I was just desperate to turn pro.

"Now I am living my dream and I want to keep on doing it, I know I need to be disciplined and determined, to be just like Joe."