Braehmer now Cleverly’s mandatory challenger

By Boxing News - 02/03/2013 - Comments

KarstenRoewer_JuergenBraehmer(Picture: Photo Wende) By Scott Gilfoid: Well, WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO’s) doesn’t have to worry about not having an opponent after his March 16th title defense against #1 WBO Robin Krasniqi (39-2, 15 KO’s) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK.

Former WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer (39-2, 30 KO’s) defeated Eduard Gutknecht by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in a World Boxing Organization 175 pound eliminator bout to put himself in position to get the Cleverly fight.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Cleverly will actually fight him immediately after his title defense against Krasniqi because I see Cleverly looking to follow his pattern of taking a soft opponent for his optional title defenses. We’ve already seen Cleverly take soft fights against Shawn Hawk, Tommy Karpency and Aleksy Kuziemski since he picked up the WBO title outside of the ring in 2011.

Braehmer will likely have to cool his heels until at least 2014, if not later, while Cleverly fights other guys. I’m just hoping he doesn’t fight any more obscure American fighters because I’ve never heard of Hawk or Karpency until he chose to fight them.

Cleverly wanted to fight American Ryan Coyne, but he’s no household name either in the U.S. I know it’s different in the UK, where the fighters are recognized by the boxing public even when they have little in the way of talent. If they’re on TV, then they have a following.

Braehmer is going to be a really tough fight for Cleverly, and I can see him easily losing this fight or fighting badly enough to lose.

Cleverly has got a really tough fight on his hands with Krasniqi, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Cleverly loses that fight because Krasniqi is faster than him, and he’s got pretty good power. It’s no secret that Cleverly is easy to hit, and doesn’t have much in the way of power.

If Krasniqi is able to land his fast power shots for 12 rounds, then I can see him possibly putting Cleverly down for the count. If Hawk could hurt Cleverly, then Krasniqi can knock him out.



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