NATHAN CLEVERLY vs KARO MURAD
CLEVERLY
Age: 23
Record: 19-0 (9)
MURAD
Age: 27
Record: 22-0 (13)
THE outstanding performance of the night came from Cleverly, a few months after he gained a degree in Pure Mathematics.
Murad went into the eliminator for the WBO light-heavyweight title with a spotless 22-0 record, whereas Cleverly had won his previous six inside the distance.
Cleverly battered the German. Told to keep the fight long by cornerman Dean Powell after he took a few in the fourth, Cleverly, the British and Commonwealth champion from Cefn Forest, ignored him.
Cleverly kept walking up to Murad and unloading power punches until the German couldn’t take any more. Murad shipped a lot of shots before referee Mark Nelson wouldn’t let him out for the 10th round.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Cleverly won the interim WBO title in his next fight by outpointing late replacement Nadjib Mohammedi and was upgraded to full belt-holder after Juergen Braehmer pulled out four days before they were set to meet in May 2011.
Cleverly made a high-profile defence against Tony Bellew before the belt was lost to Sergey Kovalev in Cardiff August 2013, a crushing four-round loss that Cleverly struggled to process.
He was listless in a rematch with Bellew at 200lbs, but went on to become a
