Cleverly vs. Braehmer on 4/2

By Boxing News - 02/10/2011 - Comments

By Sean McDaniel: WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer (36-2, 29 KO’s) will be defending his title on April 2nd against World Boxing Organization light heavyweight interim champion Nathan Cleverly (21-0, 10 KO’s) in a fight that will be taking place at a still to be determined venue in London, England.

This will be the first fight for Braehmer since defending his title last in April. Braehmer was supposed to have taken on WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov recently but Braehmer came up sick shortly after arriving in Kazakhstan, where the fight was going to take place.

The Braehmer-Cleverly fight is a tough one to really know who will win it, because Braehmer is getting up there in age at 32, and is starting to show signs of fading as a fighter. But then again, Cleverly looked terrible in his last fight against light heavyweight contender Nadjib Mohammedi last December, winning the fight by a narrow 12 round unanimous decision. Cleverly’s defense looked poor in that fight, as well as in his bout with Karo Murat. It’s not that Cleverly doesn’t have the skills to get out of the way of punches, but rather he seems to like to slug it out rather than hit and get out of the way of shots. This is going to catch up to him sooner rather than later. We may even see it catch up with Cleverly in this fight, although Braehmer is far from a serious puncher. But Braehmer does have good defensive skills it’s not hard to imagine that he may do just enough to get a win in this fight. Cleverly might not ready for the big time. However, if he can’t beat Braehmer, who’s considered the weakest of the light heavyweight champions, then it doesn’t bode well for Cleverly’s future. There are a lot better fighters in the light heavyweight than Braehmer, and a loss to him will pretty much tell you all you need to know about Cleverly.



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