Cleverly pulls out of Krasniqi title defense because of illness

By Boxing News - 04/17/2012 - Comments

Image: Cleverly pulls out of Krasniqi title defense because of illnessBy Scott Gilfoid: There must have been a hex on WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly’s fight plans to take on the light hitting, little known #4 WBO contender Robin Krasniqi on April 28th, because the fight was plagued by problems from the very start. Cleverly has pulled out of the fight due to a lingering illness that has gotten in the way of his ability to train. Cleverly has some kind of virus.

The WBO said no to Cleverly and his promoter’s choice of Krasniqi when they first announced the fight. The WBO wanted Cleverly to finally defend his title against his mandatory challenger Dmitriy Sukhotsky. However, Cleverly’s promoter got the WBO to agree to the Krasniqi fight, although I still can’t understand why. What was so special about a fighter with no power, who had never fought a 1st tier fighter and who was a complete unknown.

At least Sukhotsky was known for his fight against former WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer, giving him a really tough time before losing a 12 round decision in 2009. If Sukhotsky is good enough to give Braehmer a lot of trouble, then he’s certainly good enough to beat Cleverly because I rate Braehmer above Cleverly in talent. I think Sukhotsky and Cleverly is basically a toss up fight, but then again I guess maybe that’s why they chose the weak punching Krasniqi to fight instead.

This illness will make things interesting because I’m wondering if they decide to STILL fight Krasniqi after Cleverly gets better or will he finally face his mandatory challenger Sukhotsky. My guess is he goes ahead and still fights Krasniqi rather than tangling with Sukhotsky and getting spanked royally.

Cleverly was hoping to fight the winner of the April 28th fight between Chad Dawson and Bernard Hopkins, counting on the winner of that fight coming all the way to Wales just to get the chance to fight the little known Cleverly. I saw it as a pipe dream from the very start, because Dawson is going to be the winner of the Hopkins-Dawson fight, and he’s certainly not going to go to the UK and risk getting jobbed. He’s smarter than that. If Cleverly wants a fight against Dawson, he’ll likely have to travel to the East coast of the United States to face Dawson there or in Las Vegas. You can’t exact a talent like Dawson to have to come all the way to the UK to fight a guy that casual boxing fans have no clue about in the U.S.



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