By Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO’s) won’t be getting the big money fight he was hoping to get for his next bout in February. Instead of getting an important break out fight with 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins, Cleverly will have to settle for his number #1 mandatory challenger little known fighter Robin Krasniqi.

Cleverly said to Sky Sports News “I can only improve next year. Next up will probably be the mandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi in February. Once that is out of the way I’ll concentrate on the bigger fights.”

I think Cleverly can forget about a fight with Hopkins because Hopkins will be fighting one of the top champions in early next year, and there’s a good chance that Hopkins will lose to one of them, whoever that fighter may be.

Hopkins has slipped in the last year as Chad Dawson showed in his recent win over Hopkins and he’s probably not going to be a good option for Cleverly, unless he’s into fighting someone coming off of a loss.

I hate to say it but I actually can see Cleverly still looking to fight Hopkins even if he loses his next fight. I think Cleverly is looking for a scalp with a name on it that boxing fans will recognize and Hopkins, who is getting close to 50, is definitely someone that boxing fans are familiar with worldwide.

Cleverly recently fought in the United States and beat a 2nd titer fighter by the name of Shawn Hawk by an 8th round TKO last November at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Cleverly knocked Hawk down three times in the fight, but looked less than impressive, if you can believe that. It’s not enough that Cleverly won the fight, it’s that he didn’t look great in doing it.

Cleverly just looked like a tall, skinny fighter with not much power or defensive skills. He was just a guy with a high work rate that beat lower level fighter by bludgeoning him into submission. It wasn’t pretty stuff and I can’t see Cleverly becoming a star because he’s missing in too many areas of his game.