By Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (22-0, 11 KO’s) says he wants to become the biggest star in the UK and take on the biggest American names in the light heavyweight division, but it’s going to be hard for Cleverly to become the biggest star in the sport if he’s taking on lesser opposition.

For example, instead of stepping it up against big American starts like Tavoris Cloud, Chad Dawson, and Bernard Hopkins, Cleverly will likely be picking from the bottom of the World Boxing Organization heap to take on No.15 Tony Bellew (16-0, 10 KO’s) in his next fight. Beating Bellew isn’t exactly going to make Cleverly the biggest star in the UK, and it’s surely not going to help him get ready to take on talented Americans like Dawson, Cloud and Hopkins.

That’s a backwards move for Cleverly. I wish I could say that Cleverly will step up after the Bellew fight to take on better fighters, but I can’t see it. I see more of the same From Cleverly, facing obscure guys and just milking his WBO title for all it’s worth. Cleverly looked horrible in beating Aleksy Kuziemski in his last fight, getting staggered in the 3rd and then lucking out when the referee halted the fight in the 4th after Kuziemski was cut. The referee should have at least let the Polish fighter’s trainer try and stop the fight.

But it’s sad how Cleverly was almost knocked out by a fringe contender like Kuziemski. Cleverly’s lack of defense is going to be a problem for him if he ever gets past the Bellew type fighters in the division to take on American fighters.

“I want to be right up there and challenging the big American names in big fights and unifying the titles,” Cleverly said in an interview a the mirror.co.uk.

Here’s my take on Cleverly: I see him taking the easy path, milking his title, avoiding the Americans until getting destroyed by some obscure European fighters and drifting into journeyman status.