By Ian S Palmer
Nathan Cleverly of Wales will be trying to take the WBA Light heavyweight Championship from veteran Juergen Braehmer this Saturday, October 1st as the two meet at the Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports 2. The two were scheduled to meet five years ago in London, but the champion pulled out five days before the fight. Cleverly’s last fight took place in October of last year when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Andrzej Fonfara. Braehmer last fought in March and beat Eduard Gutknecht by a unanimous decision. Cleverly is a former WBO champion who was dethroned by Sergey Kovalev via a fourth round stoppage in 2013 and Braehmer will be defending his title for the seventh time.
The 29-year-old Cleverly enters the fight with a mark of 29-3 with 15 Kos. His other career loss came against rival Tony Bellew in November of 2014 by 12-round split decision. This is a quality matchup for fans and it looks like Cleverly’s taking a bit of a risk by taking on Braehmer in his backyard. Cleverly dropped back down to light heavyweight after taking on Bellew in a rematch in the cruiserweight division. Cleverly’s a good boxer and he’ll likely use movement to make sure he doesn’t stand in front of Braehmer. However, he did stand toe to toe with Fonfara last year in an exciting slugfest.
The Welshman needs to land crisp, hard shots and get out of the way when the champions decides to return the fire. Braehmer isn’t really a slugger either, but a brawl could break out at any time. Cleverly stands just over 6-feet-1-inch tall and has a 74-inch reach. He turned pro in 2005 and has boxed 206 rounds since then. He’s not a huge puncher as his knockout ratio stands at 47 per cent. He has a chance to win another world title if he can utilize his boxing skills for all 12 rounds and his chin and body stand up to Braehmer’s power shots.
The 37-year-old Braehmer won the WBA crown by beating Marcus Oliveira in December of 2013. He climbs into the ring with an impressive record of 48-2 with 35 Kos. Braehmer hasn’t been facing any world beaters lately as he’s defended his crown against Konni Konrad, Robin Krasniqi, Pawel Glazewski, Roberto Feliciano Bolonti and Enzo Maccarinelli. Braehmer doesn’t have much of a fan base outside of Germany and likely won’t until he starts meeting world-class fighters such as Sergey Kovalev, Jean Pascal, Adonis Stevenson, Lucian Bute, Bernard Hopkins, Beibut Shumenov or Isaac Chilemba.
Even though he’s faced mostly Grade B opponents over the years, Braehmer does possess pretty good power in his punches. The champion is a southpaw who stands just under 6-feet tall with a 71.5-inch reach. His knockout percentage is currently 70 per cent and he has 285 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 1999. His first loss came to Mario Veit in 2006 by way of a 12-round majority decision and his second defeat was a 12-round unanimous decision in 2008 to Hugo Hernan Garay. Braehmer is a decent boxer with a good jab and enough power to stop most opponents, but he’s yet to be tested by truly elite boxer.
Prediction……
Braehmer has the skills and power to stop limited opponents, but Cleverly could pose a bigger problem. The challenger has a solid chin even though Kovalev stopped him and Braehmer can also take a punch. Cleverly has youth on his side and he showed against Fonfara that he has a lot of heart and can work for all three minutes a round. It’s going to be hard to win in the champion’s backyard though unless Cleverly can record a knockout. This will be a close fight which will likely be decided by controversial decision with Cleverly doing just enough to win it. However, don’t rule out the possibility of a draw either.
