Nathan Cleverly will fight in Wales for the first time as a world champion when he defends his WBO light-heavyweight title in Cardiff in early 2012. The 24-year-old's third title defence will take place on Saturday, 25th of February at the Motorpoint Arena, but his opponent has yet to be confirmed.
"It will be great to fight on home turf again and I'm really looking forward to it," unbeaten Cleverly told BBC Sport.
His last contest in Wales was a points win over Joey Vegas in November 2007. That was on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe's win over Mikkel Kessler and since then Cleverly has fought in London, Liverpool, Las Vegas and Swindon. He has defeated Aleksy Kuziemski and Tony Bellew in his two WBO title defences and is looking forward to his sixth bout in the Welsh capital.
"I am coming back as a world champion," said Cleverly. "And it will be a special feeling having a homecoming as a world champion. I'm going to relish that. I need to step up progressively to fight the big names, I'm only 24 so I've got time on my side."
Cleverly's promoter Frank Warren has started talks with WBA champion Beibut Shumenov over a possible unification showdown but the Welshman insists a clash with one of the division's "big boys" will not happen until the end of 2012.
The Cefn Fforest fighter ultimately wants to take on either Shumenov or WBC title rivals Bernard Hopkins or Chad Dawson.
"Hopefully I'll get to the big unification fights towards the end of 2012 against the likes of Hopkins and Dawson, that's my goal - they are massive names in the division," he stated.
Veteran Hopkins has warned that he will only fight Cleverly if promoter Warren can tempt Calzaghe out of retirement three years after he quit the ring. Hopkins wants a rematch with Cleverly's countryman after the American great lost on a split decision to Calzaghe in their Las Vegas clash in April 2008.
"He desperately wants a rematch with Joe," admitted Cleverly. "But I think Joe is happy with his legacy and contented in retirement. Financially Joe is sorted and he has nothing to prove in boxing so I don't think that is going to happen. I'd probably do the same thing if I was in Joe's shoes."
