By Scott Gilfoid: Nathan Cleverly (20-0, 10 KO’s) wants to go after World Boxing Organization light heavyweight champion Jurgen Brahmer next after stopping number #2 ranked Karo Murat (22-1, 13 Ko’s) in the 9th round on Saturday night in the Magnificent Seven card in Birmingham.
Cleverly, 23, is very ambitious, as he’s already looking beyond a fight against Brahmer, which is no sure thing for Cleverly, and talking about wanting to fight Bernard Hopkins and WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal in the future.
Cleverly might was to cool down his hopes and dreams if he can beat Brahmer, because there’s a huge difference between him and guys like Hopkins and Pascal. Based on how Cleverly looked against Murat last Saturday night, I think he would lose to both Pascal and Hopkins by a wide margin and possibly by knockout.
I also think Chad Dawson would pick Cleverly apart and stop him. It’s nice that Cleverly was able to beat a limited Murat, but then again he’s a fighter that was totally protected and kept away from top fighters until he was put in with Cleverly.
Beating a guy like Murat should be expected of Cleverly if he considers himself a top contender, because Murat hadn’t done anything to be ranked number #2 by the WBO going into his fight last Saturday.
I see a whole mess of fighters that are better than Cleverly in the light heavyweight division, such as Tavoris Cloud, Beibut Shumenov, Zsolt Erdei, Gabriel Campillo, Glen Johnson, Adrian Diaconu, Antonio Tarver, Dawson, Brahmer, Pascal, Hopkins, Hugo Garay, and Chris Henry.
I see Cleverly more as a bottom feeder in the light heavyweight division, a fighter that can pick off guys that don’t deserve the ranking that they’ve been given, like Murat. Anyway, we’re going to get to see Cleverly fail big time in the near future, because it looks like he’s going to go after Brahmer next. I wouldn’t advise for him to do this, because Brahmer is in another league compared to Cleverly.
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