By Allan Fox: 35-year-old former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey (36-4, 22 KO’s) has reportedly agreed to face #4 WBC, #14 IBF junior middleweight contender Willie Nelson (36-4, 22 KO’s) on the June 29th Gennady Golovkin vs. Matthew Macklin fight card in New York City, according to Dan Rafael. However, the fight hasn’t yet been agreed on by HBO or Lou Dibella.
This is a tough match-up for Clottey because Nelson, 25, is a big puncher and he’s in the prime of his career. He’s been fighting frequently and is definitely one of the best fighters in the weight class. Nelson has a four fight winning streak going since losing an eight round majority decision to Vincent Arroyo in April of 2011.
Nelson was dropped three times in the fight. The one area where you can criticize Nelson is in the chin department. He gets knocked down from time to time, but he always gets up.
Clottey hasn’t fought since beating Calvin Grove by a 2nd round TKO in November of 2011. It seems like Clottey’s career has slowed down dramatically since he fought and was beaten by WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in March of 2010.
Clottey has fought only once per year starting in 2009 and he missed all of 2012. It’s understandable that Clottey hasn’t been active because he got a big payday in the Pacquiao fight in 2010 and his options for other big fights of that time were nonexistent following that defeat.
Clottey could have helped himself if he had stayed busy all this time because he clearly would have fought for another title had he fought three to four times per year.
From 2008 to 2009, Clottey held the IBF welterweight title, losing it to Miguel Cotto by a 12 round split decision.
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