By Michael Collins: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO’s) was really hoping that Carl Froch would agree to fight him in the summer in a fight that would take place in Wales and make a lot of money for both Cleverly and Froch.
However, Froch hasn’t been paying attention and wants instead to get fights against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute and Mikkel Kessler. Cleverly needs a fight against someone well known like Froch in order for him to be a big deal. What Cleverly doesn’t understand is that Froch was pretty much where he is now before he entered the Super Six tournament in 2009, and through repeated appearances on Showtime in the U.S, he become a popular fighter.
Cleverly told Sky Sports News “I think business wise, it makes clear sense; it would be a great fight. I know he’d have to step up a weight class, but it would be an opportunity for him to become a two-weight world champion, and it’s not going to be an easy fight for him. Why not do it.”
Froch would be doing Cleverly a big favor if he was to go backwards in his career and fight a lesser known guy who may not last much longer as a champion. In his last dozen fights, Cleverly has hardly looked like a world beater. He looks like a good contender/gate keeper, and the fact that he’s a champion is more an indication of how horribly weak the light heavyweight division is compared to some of the stronger divisions like 168. It’s difficult to imagine seeing Cleverly as a champion at that weight. He’d likely have to settle with being one of the middle of the pack type contenders.
Cleverly will be defending his World Boxing Organization title for the third time next month on February 25th against Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14 KO’s). This isn’t going to be much of a fight, as Karpency has been selected from the 2nd tier to take the fight and the WBO seems to be asleep at the wheel as far as keeping it from being sanctioned.