Nathan Cleverly is relishing the challenge of defending his WBO light heavyweight title and his unbeaten record when he takes on fellow unbeaten fighter Sergey Kovalev on Saturday 17th August. The fight will take place at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena and will be live and exclusive in the UK on BoxNation and in the US on HBO.
Cleverly met with the media at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena yesterday to publicise the bout. The Welsh champion isn’t fazed by the big knockout power of a man who has stopped 19 of his 21 victims. “August 17th can’t come quick enough for me. Kovalev has built this reputation of fear for his devastating knockouts, which to anybody looks pretty impressive. When I saw the KO’s it excited me and I said I’ve got to have this guy,” Said Cleverly. “I’m actually looking forward to getting in the ring with him and seeing what he’s got. He’ll be looking to take my head clean off and I Iove that feeling of having the adrenalin surging around my body.”
Cleverly feels that the pressure of performing will push him to achieve victory and earn him an army of new fans both at home and in America. “I’ll have the fans watching in the arena and the viewers watching live on BoxNation in the UK and on HBO in America, it’s a lot of pressure, but I thrive off it and the better I’ll perform, he won’t be able to hit what he can’t see and I’ll be throwing five, six, seven punches to every one punch he throws. One things for sure this will be an exciting fight and I’ll have a new army of fans on both sides of the Atlantic after it.”
Also on the bill Gary Buckland defends his British super-featherweight title against Stephen Smith. Buckland is expecting a great night in front of his hometown fans saying “It’s great to fight in front of my Cardiff home fans again and they’ll lift me to a sensational and memorable victory. You’ve got two of the best fighters at the weight in Britain with the prestigious Lonsdale belt on the line and it’s bound to be a cracker.”
Smith who is a former British and Commonwealth Champion at featherweight intends to do whatever it takes to make it a bad night for Buckland “Buckland is good champion, but winning this title and becoming British champion again means everything to me. I’ve moved up in weight, I’m bigger, stronger and still as fast. I can’t say how I’m going to win, but I’m leaving the ring with the British title.”
What is set to be a great night for boxing in Cardiff also sees the highly anticipated rematch between Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Ovill McKenzie and challenger Enzo Maccarinelli. The first bout between the pair in November ended with the referee stepping in to stop the fight in the second round with Maccarinelli on the end of a barrage of punches from the hard hitting McKenzie.
McKenzie said, “This is unfinished business for me and we’ll be carrying on where we left off last year. I was on the way to knocking Maccarinelli out in the first fight but the referee stepped in.” Maccarinelli feels it will be a different story this time round “That was then, this is now,” Said Maccarinelli. ”I’m just happy the rematch is on and I’ve got the chance to prove what I would’ve done to McKenzie first time round anyway. I’m not taking anything away from him, he’s a good fighter, heavy handed and very tough, but I know I’ve got the beating of him.”
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