By Eric Baldwin: It’s been three years since Nathan Cleverly (29-3, 15 KOs) lost his WBO light heavyweight title in getting blasted out by Sergey Kovalev in 2013, but this Saturday, Cleverly will be attempting to unseat WBA World 175lb champion Juergen Braehmer (48-2, 35 KOs) in Germany. It would be a big accomplishment and big news for Cleverly to beat Braehmer, because the German fighter hasn’t lost a fight since getting beaten by Hugo Hernan Garay back in 2008.
Braehmer has been matched pretty weakly since that time, so it’s kind of not surprising that he hasn’t tasted defeat in the last eight years of his career. You can argue that it’s fairly easy for fighters to stay unbeaten over an eight year period like Braehmer has if you fight the same kind of guys that he has. We’re not talking about superstars here when he talk about the level of competition that Braehmer has been feasting on.
“I feel ready for it. I’m hungry and let’s bring that belt back and become a two-time world champion,” said Cleverly to skysports.com. “It’s too big an opportunity, this. There were a few options on the table but this is the one I want. The world title is on the line. I just felt this fight needed to happen.”
Braehmer has been untested for so long. This could turn out to be an easy fight for Cleverly. He’s facing an old fighter that is almost 40, and is a lot smaller than him. That last really decent fighter that Braehmer fought was back in 2008, when he lost to Hugo Hernan Garay by a one-sided 12 round decision. Braehmer’s fights since then have come against weaker opposition like Robin Krasniqi, Enzo Maccarinelli, Konni Konrad, Pawel Glazewski and Roberto Bolonti. Braehmer is a champion in name only, but he’s been tested in eight years in facing a decent level opponent. He’s been matched very weakly, so it’s impossible to know for sure how he’ll do against Cleverly on Saturday.
Cleverly not be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division, but he doesn’t need to be for him to beat an old paper champion like Braehmer.
Cleverly can beat Braehmer if he stays on top of him and pressures him the way that Garay did eight years ago. If Cleverly can stay close to Brahmer and throw a lot of punches, he should be able to outwork him and get the decision. Cleverly cannot let Braehmer stay on the outside because he’ll out-box him for 12 rounds.