By Gari Jones: On the 11th December 2010 Nathan Cleverly (W20 (KO10) L0, D0) will face off against the more experienced Romanian Alejandro Lakatos (W31-KO23-L5 (2KO)-D2) for the interim World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title.

It’s the Welshmen’s (who happens to have been born in the same town as me) first tryout at capturing some world gold and going on what I’ve seen about his opponent I can predict with some certainty that Cleverly is going to become the champion. Cleverly may be only 23 yrs old but he’s already shown in his last seven fights that he’s going form strength to strength.

Cleverly holds a KO record of 10 from his last 20 bouts but 7 of those KO’s has come from his last seven fights and against good opposition too. Most notably are the wins against Karo Murat and Antonio Brancalion. His opponent Lakota’s who seems to be tailor made for Nathan is a fast but steady hitter who leads with the jab but has a tendency to throw the big shot.

Not much is known about Cleverly’s opponent other than Lakatos’ stands at 6ft tall will be coming in to this fight at about 175lbs is the current WBO European light heavyweight title and is 36 yrs old. Looking at his record he has fought some reasonable opponents more so in his losses against Zsolt Erdei, Hugo Hernan Garay and Viacheslac Uzelkov these guys are very well rated on Boxrec, but even so in his last two fight Lakatos has fought some very average guys (Abdelkahim Derghal / W18, KO8 – L10, KO1 – D1) and Roberto Martins / W18, KO14 – L18 – KO13- D1) and even his fights against Erdei and Garay were over 6-7 years ago.

I have seen Lakatos’ and he seems a very solid fighter. He does have some flaws in that he tends to stay very flat footed at times and he can leave himself open when he goes for the big shot. Despite this Lakatos’ seems ready for the challenge and has stated in several news and web articles if Nathan fights him the way he did against Murat, he’s going to knock him out. I personally can’t see that happening Nathan is a fast upcoming boxer who’s more than likely going to take the mantle from Joe Calzaghe as the Pride of Wales.

When you look at Cleverly who is a natural at light heavyweight, he is fast and agile for his size, he’s developed in all areas over the last two years especially in movement, technique and punching power. Nathan style he likes to move around the ring at fight at arms length. He’s a man who tends to fight more upright preferring head shots rather than hit to the body and when he comes in close he tends to hold on rather than try to land body shots. This was evident in his fight against Antonio Brancalion, but he had improved in his fight against Murat better combinations with one two’s to the head and to the body.

If I had to criticize Cleverly for anything then it would be on his defense. He tends to keep his hands way down at times, especially his left hand. Murat and Brancalion managed to tag Cleverly this way and if he’s not careful when Lakatos throws one of his big right hands Cleverly could find himself in very serious trouble. A loss to someone like Lakatos could be damaging it won’t dent his career too much as he is still learning the trade, but it could hurt future chance’s at some unification fights and a big payday.

Anyway I would suggest people to keep an eye on Nathan Cleverly as he is one to watch for the future. Despite some flaws, I predict he’ll win this fight in the 7th round or less by KO. This will be the stepping stone for Cleverly to go on and become a major force in the light heavyweight’s.