By Frank Warren
NATHAN CLEVERLY became Britain's fifth current world champ last week - and the Welsh bomber is looking for his reign to be a long one.
He defended his WBO light-heavyweight title in a thriller against Aleksy Kuziemski at the O2.
Now the next step is to take him for a welcome in the Valleys, so it'll be Wales for his next fight.
He can expect a big homecoming. So who will be lacing 'em up in the opposite corner? Well, you can take your pick. Yanks like Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud are options, while Brit rival Tony Bellew would be a massive domestic showdown.
Nathan's fight was shown in the States on Saturday by Epix, who were delighted with his performance so they would like to see him face one of theirs.
But the man I want for Cleverly is Bernard Hopkins, the sport's oldest-ever world champion.
Think about it - The Executioner made his pro debut when Nathan was only one year old!
What a great story it would be if he took on one of the youngest champions in Cleverly, who is still only 24.
I felt Hopkins had too much for Jean Pascal on Saturday, winning the WBC crown.
I'm against older guys fighting on past their prime. But even at 46, Hopkins is an amazing athlete.
The way he looks after himself he could go on to 50. Hopkins' defeat of Pascal puts even more of a perspective on Joe Calzaghe's career.
Although Calzaghe beat Hopkins on a split decision, I thought he was close to stopping him - but the ref stepped in and gave the American time to recover.
Hopkins, Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jnr were probably the best three fighters between middleweight and light-heavyweight a decade or so ago. It is interesting to compare them now.
Quantcast
Calzaghe retired undefeated, his legacy as one of Britain's greatest fighters secured.
And although Hopkins is not quite as quick now, he's got a brilliant boxing brain. Doing press-ups in between rounds must have done puffing Pascal's mind in.
In contrast to Calzaghe and Hopkins, Jones is leaving the sport on a low. Since 2004, he has lost seven from 12 fights - his latest on Saturday when he was KO'd by Denis Lebdev. He must retire now.
Wales has now had 11 world champ and I've promoted or managed seven of them.
Percy Jones was the first (and, no, even I wasn't around then!) in 1914, while Cleverly is the latest.