By Sean McDaniel: WBO light heavyweight interim champion Nathan Cleverly (21-0, 10 KO’s) has finally gotten his big chance at a title after six years as pro and will be facing WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer (36-2, 29 KO’s) on April 2nd at the Wembley Arena, Wembley, London.

The 23-year-old Cleverly, who recently picked up a degree in mathematics in college, bristles at being considered as a nice guy, someone that doesn’t fit the mold of being a boxer. Cleverly intends on changing that on April 2nd against Braehmer by showing his dark side in the ring. Braehmer can be pretty rough in the ring as well, so this one has the makings of a really interesting fight for boxing fans.

Speaking with Steve Bunce at the mirror.co.uk, Cleverly said “I keep hearing people say that I’m too nice to be a boxer and I’m going to put an end to talk like that. This fight is the one that I want and it helps that Braehmer is a tough and experienced boxer and a good champion. He likes to play the hard character, the man who has been there and done it – that suits me. In Germany they think about him as some nutcase – well, I’m not going to be Mr. Nice on the night.”

Hopefully, Cleverly doesn’t forget completely about his defense in this fight, because he was nailed often in his last two fights against Karo Murat and Nadjib Mohammedi. Cleverly was able to beat both of those fighters, but then again neither of them were huge punchers either. Braehmer has better power than both of those guys and arguably better boxing skills as well.

Cleverly needs to not see this fight as some kind of primitive fight involving local fighters, because Braehmer is a cut or two above the guys that Cleverly has been fighting the past six years. You can’t just run over a fighter like Braehmer, especially for a fighter like Cleverly who’s not a huge puncher. If he gets into a war with Braehmer, he could end up looking kind of silly in losing.