By Alexey Sukachev
Dmitry Sukhotskiy (18-1, 13 KOs), 30-years-old, is ranked #1 by the WBO at light heavyweight, and a month ago during the WBO's annual convention he was appointed as the mandatory challenger to the World Boxing Organization's 175lb champion Nathan Cleverly.
However, Sukhotskiy, a versatile boxer-puncher with some notable power in his fists, feels abandoned by the British boxer in favor of a possible unification with the WBA champion Beibut Shumenov, which is reportedly being negotiated between Team Cleverly and Shumenov-controlled Kazakh Event Productions.
Sensing the worst; Sukhotskiy issued an open challenge to the Welshman.
"I’m talking to you, Nathan Cleverly. I have heard that instead of fighting me, your mandatory challenger, you are trying to reach an agreement with Beibut Shumenov for a partial unification of the titles. I cannot call it anything but being a coward. You don’t want to fight me because you are very well aware of the fact that I’ll knock you out cold should we meet inside the squared circle. So you’ve chosen an easier road."
"You became a so-called “full champion” without being in a fight, and [won it] outside the ring when Juergen Braehmer refused to boxe and decided to hang’em up. So you are a paper chump, not a real champion. And Braehmer’s refusal is certainly explainable after a bad beating, which I had delivered to him in 2009, and only the referee saved him from a knockout loss."
"You made your next defense against Aleksey Kuziemski, whom I had already stopped in brutal fashion. Finally, being in a hurry to meet you as soon as possible I knocked out Nadjib Mohammedi in just two rounds; the same Mohammedi you fought with for twelve dull and close rounds. Wake up, kiddo! You are very much delusional if you think you are ready for any unification at all. Prove yourself to be at least a “single” champion by fighting me."
"I’m ready to go straight into your backyard to prove convincingly who is a real champion, and who is just a chump. Yours truly, Dmitry Sukhotskiy."
