NATHAN Cleverly was today waking up ahead of a world title fight with a third different opponent in just over 24 hours being drafted in to fight him.
In a run of events that seem barely credible Cefn Fforest’s Cleverly saw WBO light-heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer pull out of his defence with a cut eye on Wednesday before the governing body stripped the German of his title yesterday morning.
Interim champion Cleverly, just the 11th Welshman to win a world title, was then scheduled to make the first defence of his title against domestic rival Tony Bellew, who campaigned on the internet to be named the opponent.
Bad blood between the pair boiled over in yesterday’s press conference with Bellew calling Cleverly “a ******* rat,” live on Sky Sports News as the two were separated by security.
However, the drama continued into the evening when shortly after 8pm, it was announced that Bellew, despite assurances in the press conference, would be unable to make the weight safely in the judgement of the British Boxing Board of Control.
Cleverly will now defend against Aleksy Kuziemski, a 34-year old Polish fighter ranked 11 by the WBO, three places higher than Bellew.
Kuziemski has a 23 fight record with 21 wins, having lost over 11 rounds to Braehmer in his most notable outing.
Promoter Frank Warren held his hands up to what has become a frustrating scenario for Cleverly and his supporters.
“It’s been a nightmare to say the least, it’s been a nightmare for the fans, for the people buying the fight, but we’ve managed to keep the show together,” he said.
“This has been a total nightmare. First we had Braehmer pulling out, and then Tony Bellew told everybody he wanted the fight and was only four lbs above the weight but unfortunately that isn’t the case.
“He didn’t fulfil the criteria of the British Boxing Board of Control and therefore the fight has been cancelled.
“We considered an overweight match but that wouldn’t be fair on Nathan Cleverly. Nathan was the interim champion because Braehmer ducked him for a year and Nathan quite rightly goes in as a champion.
“The fans would love to see a fight with Bellew over the weight, but he’d be giving away 10-12lbs to Tony and that simply isn’t on. It would be great for the fans but not Nathan’s health.”
Warren admitted to being frustrated after Bellew had earlier stated he’d have no trouble making the 12st 7lbs weight limit.
“Tony was desperate for his chance and he wanted the fight, Twittering everyone to say he was ready, able and willing, originally I thought it was a bad idea – I said that in the press conference – but I allowed myself to get talked into it.
“Ultimately the buck stops with me. But at least I am glad we had the foresight to talk to the other fighters and we had a stand-by. That’s where we are.”
Warren was full of sympathy for Cleverly.
“He’s angry about the whole thing to be honest,” he said.
“He was angry about Braehmer, the press conference yesterday was explosive but now yet again he is facing another fighter.
“It’s a nigh on sell-out show and he’s got to get focused and he will because he’s a professional.
“Nathan has to deal with the challenger in hand, hopefully he can come through it and then he can move on to bigger things.”
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