By Scott Gilfoid: As I predicted earlier, the World Boxing Organization has responded and given challenger Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14 KO’s) a ranking in the top 15 for his February 25th fight against WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 10 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

When the fight was first signed, Karpency, 26, wasn’t even ranked in the top 15 by the WBO, although he was ranked #10 by the WBA. But sure enough, Karpency is now ranked #10 by the WBO. I’m totally not surprised. I’m just wondering why the WBO didn’t put him in the top 5 to make Cleverly’s defense look even better to boxing fans, like he’s really beating someone.

I do think the southpaw Karpency will give Cleverly a lot of problems in this fight, but that’s only because Cleverly is a very average fighter that had the WBO give him the title rather than him having to earn it in the ring by fighting. Karpency will take the fight to Cleverly and force him to fight hard for the win.

Karpency is actually a better puncher than Cleverly, so he’ll be able to hold his own and keep the fight relatively close. The difference in the fight will be Cleverly’s workrate. He’ll be able to throw more shots than Karpency to earn an unimpressive 12 round decision. But the main thing is Cleverly will be able to remain the WBO champion for a little while longer until he’s finally put in with someone that can fight, and then he’ll get whipped badly.

Karpency fought Karo Murat to a close 12 round decision loss in May 2010. If Karpency hadn’t run out of gas and clinched constantly in the last four rounds, he might have earned a draw. I don’t think he would have been given a draw, because the fight took place in Germany, but he could have made it a controversial loss instead of a clear loss.