By William Mackay: WBO light heavyweight interim champion Nathan Cleverly (21-0, 10 KO’s) takes on arguably the weakest of the four light heavyweight champions next month in a fight against a rusty WBO light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer (36-2, 29 KO’s) at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), Greenwich, London.

Braehmer, 32, hasn’t fought since April of last year when he beat an obscure fighter by the name of Mariano Nicolas Plotinsky. Cleverly, who is not a big puncher, is hoping to take Braehmer out in the 1st round. I’d say the chances of that happening aren’t good. I can see Cleverly winning this fight because I think Braehmer isn’t all that good and he’s rusty and getting up there age, but we’re talking the weakest of the four champions.

With all the sanctioning bodies and various champions out there, it’s a lot easier than it used to be for fighters to pick up and hold down paper titles for a short period of time. Cleverly may be the next one in line to pick up his own paper title and hold onto it for a brief spell. Hopefully, Cleverly doesn’t milk the WBO title because that’s what boxing fans don’t need. Another milker.

Cleverly had this to say about his power at frankwarrentv: “I’m punching harder than than ever now that I’ve matured into a light heavyweight, but I’m still only 24. My strength and power has increased since my early career.”

The last thing that Cleverly needs is for him to get caught up with trying to be a power puncher. He’s clearly not. In his last fight against Nadjib Mohammedi, Cleverly looked to be the weaker of the two fighters and took a lot of hard shots to the head as he came out trying to knock Mohammedi out. Instead of trying to knock guys out, Cleverly needs to focus on boxing and using some head movement so he doesn’t get clobbered quite so much. He’s never going to be a huge puncher and I think it’s a big mistake for him to be talking 1st round knockouts against anyone, especially against a champion like Braehmer. I don’t care if Braehmer is a per champion, he’s still a good fighter and Cleverly doesn’t have the kind of power for him to easily knockout anyone, much less a decent fighter like Braehmer.