NEW world champion Nathan Cleverly finally got a reminder of the adulation and glory boxing can bring on Saturday night, rather than the politics and controversy that threatened to derail his plans throughout a turbulent week.

Cleverly, 24, who is now the WBO light heavyweight champion – and he’s almost a year younger than Joe Calzaghe was when he beat Chris Eubank to capture his first world title – pummelled Alexsy Kuziemski in four engaging, fast and furious rounds before referee Mark Nelson stopped the contest.

Already a Commonwealth, European and British champion, Cleverly now rightly takes his place as the crown jewel of young fighters in Britain, producing despite a week that would have had many tearing their hair out.

Cleverly lost out on a shot against champion Jurgen Braehmer – promptly stripped of the title – and then saw stand-in Tony Bellew talk a great fight before being withdrawn unable to make weight.

That put a big pressure on Cleverly against an opponent “I watched for about 20 minutes on YouTube,” but he delivered, even though boos rang out at the end of his scrap with the crowd upset the stoppage was premature.

It wasn’t.

Not only had Kuziemski – who gets great credit for coming to fight rather than defend – just been cut across his left eye, his nose had also been busted open and he looked like he was struggling to breathe as Cleverly fired shots from all angles, showing the power that has now seen eight of his last ten fights end inside the distance.

“That was always the game plan, to hurt him, to get in there and start fast, impose myself on the fight, that’s just my style,” Cleverly said.

The first two sessions were a blur, Cleverly swarming all over the 34-year-old Russian, who simply didn’t have the gas to keep up.

Cleverly enjoyed particularly success with left hands coming in over the top as they fought almost nose to nose, a beautiful cluster of punches leading to one national writer scrawling on his notepad “a star is born”.

However, to stay a champion you need more than punching power and this fight shouldn’t just be remembered as the night when Nathan became a world champion, but also as the night he showed everyone he’s got that granite chin that they seem to make specifically for Gwent valley boxers.

Because make no mistake, it all nearly went horribly wrong in the third session in the five- second exchange that will be shown endlessly on Cleverly highlight reels in the coming years.

A big swinging left from Kuziemski caught Cleverly flush to the temple and he was sent reeling back, stumbling as he momentarily lost balance, grasping at air as he tried to readjust his feet.

For a few seconds one wondered if Cleverly was going to be able to survive but he quickly stemmed the tide and in scenes very reminiscent of Calzaghe, dropped his hands, banged his chin and flew into another flurry of offence. It was boxing machismo at its absolute finest.

“I was worried, we all were, but sooner or later people were going to find out Nathan has a brilliant chin, he can certainly be hit, we’ve just avoided any big shots up to this point,” father and trainer Vince commented afterwards.

Kuziemski survived around 90 seconds of the fourth before the referee waved it off with blood seeping into the Russian’s eyes, Cleverly becoming Britain’s fifth reigning world champion and the 11th in Welsh boxing history.

“It feels amazing, I didn’t want to call myself a world champion the way I was ‘awarded’ the belt, but I defy anyone now to tell me I don’t deserve to be where I am now,” he said.

“I won the British, Commonwealth and European title, then I won a world title eliminator, then an interim title fight, then defended the title.

“I am now a world champion and that feels amazing.”

The Cefn Fforest fighter, who is a boxing rarity in that he went all the way to university as a maths student, is now targeting the biggest fights available.

“There are some massive fights for me, I think there are some big domestic fights that could be made and also some huge American fights too,” he told the Argus.

“My ultimate aim is to unify the light heavyweight division and believe I am good enough to do just that.

“It’s been a fantastic night and I am living the dream. I have wanted to be a world champion since I was 11 years old and here I am. It’s amazing.”

l Welshmen Lewis Rees and Luke Robinson both won comfortably, Rees on his professional debut.

Rees is trained by Gary Lockett and Robinson is the son of former world champion Steve.

However, Nathan Cleverly’s sparring partner, Hari Miles, couldn’t make it a perfect night for Welsh boxers, losing a tight decision to Scot Stephen Simmons on the judges’ scorecards.