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By Thomas Gerbasi - As Nathan Cleverly sat in his London hotel room in May, just before what should have been the biggest moment of his career, he thought about packing his bags and heading back to Wales for a moment, and no one would have blamed him if he did.
He fulfilled his part of the bargain before his WBO light heavyweight bout against Germany’s Juergen Braehmer, training and showing up ready to make weight and fight. Brahmer didn’t, pulling out of the fight on the Wednesday before the opening bell.
The withdrawal saw Cleverly elevated from interim to full 175-pound champion, and he still wanted to fight, so his promoter, Frank Warren, found him an opponent in Commonwealth titlist Tony Bellew. Bellew didn’t make weight on Friday.
Strike two.
“It was difficult, a lot of changes,” said Cleverly. “I think I had been in training for four to five months for that fight (with Braehmer) because of a few cancellations and change of dates. I was actually in training camp for a very long time for one opponent, and when I hear about two days before the fight that the opponent doesn’t arrive in the country, it was a bit of a blow because you had your heart and your mind set on one individual. But this is boxing and sometimes you’ve got to deal with this. And then there was another change of opponent. In steps Tony Bellew, and he fails to make the fight unsurprisingly, and obviously we got another change. At one point I was in the hotel and I contemplated just packing up and going home because I thought the fight wasn’t going to take place, that it was too late notice to find and opponent.” [Click Here To Read More]
He fulfilled his part of the bargain before his WBO light heavyweight bout against Germany’s Juergen Braehmer, training and showing up ready to make weight and fight. Brahmer didn’t, pulling out of the fight on the Wednesday before the opening bell.
The withdrawal saw Cleverly elevated from interim to full 175-pound champion, and he still wanted to fight, so his promoter, Frank Warren, found him an opponent in Commonwealth titlist Tony Bellew. Bellew didn’t make weight on Friday.
Strike two.
“It was difficult, a lot of changes,” said Cleverly. “I think I had been in training for four to five months for that fight (with Braehmer) because of a few cancellations and change of dates. I was actually in training camp for a very long time for one opponent, and when I hear about two days before the fight that the opponent doesn’t arrive in the country, it was a bit of a blow because you had your heart and your mind set on one individual. But this is boxing and sometimes you’ve got to deal with this. And then there was another change of opponent. In steps Tony Bellew, and he fails to make the fight unsurprisingly, and obviously we got another change. At one point I was in the hotel and I contemplated just packing up and going home because I thought the fight wasn’t going to take place, that it was too late notice to find and opponent.” [Click Here To Read More]
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