NATHAN CLEVERLY vs KARO MURAT

One of Britain’s brightest new stars makes a step up in class on Saturday when Nathan Cleverly, the mathematics graduate from Wales, meets Karo Murat in a world title eliminator between unbeaten light-heavyweights.
 
Cleverly has made impressive progress in the past two years. He is punching much harder than when he started his career and at the age of 23 he is taking on the look of a top-calibre boxer-puncher.
 
Murat, 27, boxes for the powerful Sauerland Event organisation in Germany, where he is trained by the veteran Ulli Wegner, who is best known as Arthur Abraham’s trainer.
 
Although Cleverly is the betting favourite, this is clearly his toughest test. Murat has defeated two world champions in his 22 consecutive wins. The fight is one of the most intriguing on promoter Frank Warren’s Magnificent Seven show, with seven fights featuring some of Britain’s leading fighters to be televised on Sky Box Office in the U.K., reminding me of those star-studded marathon shows that promoter Don King used to stage in Las Vegas.
 
Cleverly showed world-class potential when defeating the rugged veteran Tony Oakey to become British light-heavy champion two years ago. He has stopped six opponents in a row and looked better than he has ever done in his last fight when he banged out Antonio Brancalion in five rounds to become European champion in February.
 
Now that Cleverly has obtained his college degree, he says that he can give boxing his undivided attention and will become a 25% better fighter.
 
Murat, born in Iraq, started boxing in the super middleweight division and has two wins over former champion Cristian Sanavia, stopping the Italian southpaw in the rematch. Murat’s best win, though, was probably his majority decision victory over the talented future light-heavy champion Gabriel Campillo. Although the decision was debatable, the stronger Murat was able to bully Campillo at various points in the fight. Also, Murat was able to block a lot of the Spanish southpaw’s punches on his high guard. Murat did look somewhat limited, though, and Campillo looked much the more skilled boxer and certainly threw far more punches.
 
I’m not sure that Murat has improved much since the Campillo fight. He fights in the style taught by Ulli Wegner, moving in behind a tight defence, jabbing every so often and letting punches go in eye-catching bursts. Murat gives the impression of being very strong and durable, but although quite heavy handed he isn’t what one could call a big puncher, with 13 opponents stopped in 22 bouts.
 
Four of Murat’s last six bouts have gone the distance, including a unanimous decision win over the Pennsylvania southpaw Tommy Karpency in his last fight. Murat was a clear winner. He dropped Karpency with a left hook in the second round and was the aggressor and heavier hitter. Karpency did a bit too much back-pedalling to have any chance of winning a decision, but the American boxer had his successes, and I noted that he was at times “outworking and outhustling” Murat.
 
Cleverly is of course the taller, rangier fighter and he certainly appears to be faster, classier and probably the better puncher. Murat is strong and tough, though, and he hits heavily enough to get respect.
 
Murat will be doing his best to put pressure on Cleverly and I think there might be some rounds when his surges of aggression will cause problems for the more polished Welsh boxer. I think, though, that Cleverly has the toughness and talent to box and fight his way through the inevitable rough moments.
 
Cleverly has been talking about “destroying” Murat because of what he feels have been derogatory comments, but if he can stop the German fighter it will be an oustanding result. The win is the thing in this, his biggest fight, and I think that Cleverly will box a smart fight, using the ring, stopping to trigger off his combinations and then moving away. I don’t see him standing right in front of Murat but I do believe that Cleverly will be trying to hurt his opponent in an attempt to slow him down and discourage him from rushing into the attack.
 
This looks like being an entertaining, well-fought contest, but Cleverly looks the better fighter and he should be able to win, perhaps on points.
 
I will be making a wagering suggestion in the subscribers’ section later in the week. Previews and picks currently available for subscribers: Shane Mosley vs Sergio Mora; Enzo Maccarinelli vs Alexander Frenkel.