Welshman Nathan Cleverly defends his WBO light-heavyweight title for the third time when he takes on American Tommy Karpency at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales on Saturday night. It is a long awaited homecoming for Cleverly, who has not boxed in his native country since 2007 when he won an eight round decision over Joey Vegas on the Joe Calzaghe Mikkel Kessler undercard at the Millennium Stadium. In his last fight, Cleverly proved his world championship caliber with a grueling twelve round majority decision win over Tony Bellew. This time he takes on a little known American southpaw ranked eleventh by the WBO. 

25 year old Cleverly (23-0, 11 KOs) proved what a complete fighter he has become with his win over the previously unbeaten Bellew last October. Some experts had wondered if the Welshman had slipped somewhat following less than impressive performances over Nadjib Mohammedi in December 2010, and Aleksy Kuziemski in his first defense of the title. I personally believed that Bellew would be too good a boxer and too sharp a puncher for Cleverly, and picked the Scouser to win on points.

The Welshman was, however, a revelation. From entering the ring at the Echo Arena in Liverpool in front of thousands of baying locals - bare chested a la Mike Tyson - going behind early in the fight, absorbing several right hand bombs from Bellew before  taking control and finishing like a train, Cleverly reminded me of the late great Salvador Sanchez, with his loose, relaxed style, phenomenal fitness and chin. 

 

Bellew may have been the better technical boxer, but Cleverly’s punches came from everywhere, and while not of the KO variety, they were hurtful nevertheless. Bellew was fit enough to go the distance, but Cleverly was still bouncing around the ring at the bell, and looked capable of immediately taking on a Chad Dawson or a Bernard Hopkins in another twelve rounder. The Welshman possibly possesses the best chin in the 175 lb division, and took several huge rights from Bellew flush, with scant effect. 

Cleverly has impressed at various times in his career – the 5th round TKO over Tony Quigley in just his seventh pro fight in 2006, the points win over the vastly more experienced Tony Oakey in 2008 that netted him the Commonwealth belt, and the 8th round TKO over the super talented Courtney Fry in 2008 stand out. 

Cleverly’s 2010 10th round TKO win over German based Iraqi Karo Murat seemed workmanlike and labored at the time -  but Murat is currently ranked no.2 by the IBF and fought Spain’s Gabriel Campillo to a draw last October, the same Campillo who has just been robbed in a IBF title fight with American Tavoris Cloud – results that make the Murat win one of Cleverly’s best career victories in retrospect.  

Murat and Cleverly share a common opponent in Saturday’s title challenger, 26 year old Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14 KOs) from the tiny town of Adah in Pensyvania. Southpaw Karpency is a six year pro veteran and currently ranked 11th by the WBO. His lofty world ranking seems somewhat dubious, as his main claim to fame would be going the distance with Karo Murat in 2010. 

There are no standout wins on Karpency’s record, typified by his sole fight of 2011, a first round KO of one Andre Hemphill, who was 10-16-2 at the time. In interviews Karpency comes across as a likeable, diligent young man who genuinely believes that his low profile will work in his favor against Cleverly on Saturday: 

“The average boxing fan and boxing analysts may have written me off because I don’t have a big-time promoter, but I’m sure Nathan Cleverly hasn’t written me off.” Said Karpency.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to fight for a world title. This is the pinnacle of the sport for me. It’s by far the biggest fight of my career. But I believe I can fight and compete and beat any light-heavyweight in the world. Any athlete who doesn’t believe that is wasting their time. It’s two guys in a ring and it doesn’t matter where you are. I’ve been training hard and I believe I’ll be ready to fight 12 hard rounds come February 25.”

Karpency proved his fitness and durability against Murat, but the reality is the American is little more than an honest club fighter, and the inescapable fact is that he should not be facing Nathan Cleverly in a world title fight on Saturday. The Welshman’s management could have chosen a dozen more worthy opponents for Cleverly, and the Karpency fight is a backward step. If Cleverly wanted to get a few rounds under his belt, this should have been a non-title bout, nothing more. And that is taking nothing away from Karpency, who is excited about his opportunity, and comes across as a likeable, decent guy. 

 

Cleverly is simply a much better boxer, puncher and athlete than Karpency, so this should be a mismatch right from the get-go. I think the Welshman will want to put on a show for his fans, so I expect it to last at least six rounds, but from that point on it will be a question of how much of a beating the referee allows the brave but outgunned American to take. I think by the ninth he will have seen enough.

 

Cleverly by TKO in nine.

Big Fight Odds: Nathan Cleverly 1/33, Tommy Karpency 9/1 bet365