This past weekend, Nathan Cleverly retired from boxing after losing his WBA "regular" light heavyweight title after being stopped in five rounds by Badou Jack at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Welshman showed his bravery with his willingness to fight on while he was being outclassed at the T-Mobile Arena, but amid his inability to defend himself from increasing punishment, referee Tony Weeks came to his rescue.

It was his second stoppage loss, after being knocked out by Sergey Kovalev in 2013. He eventually followed that defeat by an unsuccessful foray into the cruiserweight division, and also appeared fortunate to win his title when Juergen Braehmer was forced to withdraw through injury when they fought last year.

Such a one-sided defeat limited Cleverly's future options, and at 30 he lacks the ability to challenge the elite at 175lbs that includes Kovalev, Andre Ward, and now new champion Jack.

The Swede made a fine start to his first fight in the division after stepping up from super middleweight. This was a match-up that long appeared likely to be decided by either Cleverly's superior work-rate and size or the more polished Jack's jab, ring-IQ and combinations.

He had fought to an entertaining draw against James DeGale in January, and in 2015 also defeated George Groves, whose skill sets Cleverly has long lacked.

"Jack was very strong," Cleverly said. " He caught me and broke my nose. It was a downward spiral from there. I was wounded and protecting myself. I thought the stoppage was premature. He had just swung and missed but it's up to the referee in the end."

Jack said: "You can't leave it in the hands of the judges. You've got to go for the kill. I think Adonis Stevenson, let's get it on. Unless you want a trilogy with Andrzej Fonfara, let's get it on."