Nathan Cleverly- Wales' new hope

Nathan Cleverly 20-0 (10) has his first World title fight (of sorts) tomorrow night when he fights for the vacant interim WBO light heavyweight championship against late substitute Nadjib Mohammedi 23-1 (12).

However even if Cleverly wins the bout, it could be a fair wait before he gets a full shot as WBO full champion Juergen Braehmer has signed up for a unification bout with WBA champion Beibut Shumenov. On the positive side of things, Braehmer has been sentenced to 16 months in prison so Cleverly will be champion if Braehmer’s appeal fails.

Frank Warren deserves a bit of credit for getting a decent looking opponent in at such short notice after the original opponent withdrew late on. Mohammedi has a decent record but not at a great level. He stopped the reasonable Tomas Adamek (not the famous one!) two fights ago and won the minor EU European title at the same time.

He is also a former French champion at the weight and made 5 successful defences of it. His one defeat was a 1st round knockout defeat to 22-4 Thierry Karl. Now this could mean Mohammedi is chinny but many good fighters with decent chins have been stopped inside a round on a one-off occasion.

Cleverly has improved so quickly in the past two years but used unusual tactics last time out by brawling with previously unbeaten Karo Murat before out-hustling his opponent in the tenth round. Whether Cleverly (who is an outstanding academic ) wanted to prove his toughness in this fight or genuinely decided that this was his best way to win the fight is not clear but at least it showed he can fight in a different style.

I do not know how good Mohammedi is but you would think he would have to be extremely special to derail Cleverly tomorrow with Cleverly in the form he is. Frank Warren is a clever man and I think he would know if Mohammedi was an extra special talent.

So Cleverly should win the fight to top off another good year and then hopefully look forward to a real World title fight next year.

1. Cleverly wins interim WBO light heavyweight title but struggles to impress