By Shaun Brown
Former WBO World light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (29-3, 15 KOs) has vowed to go to war for the rest of his career.
The 28-year-old Welshman was last in action against Andrzej Fonfara when the pair produced a thrilling, record breaking contest that is a leading contender for 2015’s fight of the year.
“Every fight now till the end of my career, until I hang up the gloves I’ll go to war,” Cleverly told the BBC.
“Real fights against elite fighters, world title belts or top level fighters on the big stage, only those now till the end of my career.”
Cleverly’s enthralling fight with Fonfara ended in defeat for the Brit and with him being taken to hospital with a broken nose and swollen ear which had to be cut open to drain for the blood to be drained.
“He [Fonfara] was clubbing me with the right hand on that ear so that was swollen. I had to go to hospital to have that drained otherwise I’d have ended up with a cauliflower ear if I had left it any longer. So, yeah, that was fun! I had just come out of a 12-round war, a broken nose and had my ear cut open as well as having the injection for the blood drugs test. It was all going on,” he told Boxing Scene recently.
With his war wounds nearly healed Cleverly has his sights set on a rematch with Fonfara who is chasing a return fight with WBC light heavyweight champion Andrzej Fonfara.
“Deep down I’ve got the self-belief. I know what I can do and it’s just a matter of having the opportunity to show it," said Cleverly.
That opportunity may come early next year with WBA champion Jurgen Braehmer in the sights of Cleverly and his promoter Eddie Hearn who is also keen on a second contest with Fonfara.
“We like to fight a rematch [with Fonfara],” said Hearn.
“I think Fonfara’s holding out for Stevenson but I don’t think that’s going to happen. He’s got a mandatory against [Eleider] Alvarez. He never looked great against [Isaac] Chilemba but then again no-one ever does so Cleverly’s ready to go back into big fights.
“He’s got a decent profile in America. I think they like him over there so that can be an option. I think you’ll see Cleverly out again in March and ready to fight anyone. Braehmer is an option. And back to America whether it’s the Fonfara rematch or something else. They’re keen to have him back out there.”
Cleverly admits that having wars with the likes of Fonfara will have to be few and far between for his own physical and mental health. The one-time cruiserweight said that prior to the Fonfara battle he hadn’t been involved in fights as gruelling as that and feels at 28 he’s getting better and stronger despite three losses to his name.
“I had someone say: ‘Nate that’s your third loss’ but the level of opposition has been[Sergey] Kovalev who will be fighting Andre Ward. That’s an absolute top class fight. [Tony] Bellew at cruiserweight. Listen, he’s a good fighter but I was at the wrong weight so you write that fight off. And Fonfara which was again a top class fight. He’s a good athlete and it was a close fight.”
Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK News Editor. Follow him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0. Contact him at sbrownboxing@gmail.com