By Jake Donovan
The intention was never to let their fight marinate, but it just worked out better for Germany’s Juergen Braehmer and Wales’ Nathan Cleverly to meet five years after their originally intended showdown.
After all, the future couldn’t be brighter for Saturday’s winner in Neubrandenberg, Germany. Waiting in the wings will be a crack at whomever emerges victorious in the November 19 clash between unbeaten, unified titlist Sergey Kovalev and undefeated former super middleweight king Andre Ward.
Such a guarantee wasn’t on the table in May ‘11, when Braehmer held the full version of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title and was due to defend versus then-unbeaten interim titlist Cleverly in London, England. The winner would have been just another titlist in the division, far behind Bernard Hopkins – who’d just captured the lineal championship on that very day – and no better than in the mix with the likes of Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov.
The fight never happened, however, as Braehmer – who hadn’t defended since April ’10 – suffered a cut over his eye during sparring and was forced to withdraw. Gone with the bout was also his title, as Cleverly was upgraded from interim to full titlist, making four successful defenses before conceding the strap to Kovalev in a one-sided knockout loss in Aug. ’13.
Four months later, Braehmer re-entered the title picture, picking up the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) “regular” light heavyweight belt. He has since successfully defended six times ahead of today’s affair, with the closest to a Cleverly bout ever resurfacing was a win over another Welsh contender in former cruiserweight titlist Enzo Maccarinelli, whom he stopped in five rounds.
At no point did discussion of a Braehmer-Cleverly bout reach the forefront, simply because such a fight never really made sense until now. Braehmer was just another titlist, with more attention paid to the “Super” version of the WBA belt held by Shumenov, Hopkins and now Kovalev. Relaxed mandatory title defense standards – due in part to the rotation process afforded to unified titlists, but also the general lack of commitment offered by sanctioning bodies – meant that there would exist at least two claimants to the WBA title.
That will no longer be the case. In fact, if the WBA had its way earlier this summer, Kovalev would have faced Braehmer next instead of each taking on separate bouts. In doing the right thing, the WBA agreed to sanction both fights – Kovalev-Ward and Braehhmer-Cleverly – with the winners due to meet in the first part of 2017.
While there is a portion of the boxing world whom insist that the belts don’t matter, Braehmer (48-2, 35KOs) will be among the first to argue to the contrary. A two-time titlist, the veteran southpaw from Schwerin – who turns 38 on Wednesday – has seen far more attention paid to his career thanks to what has been at stake in every bout since 2013.
Perhaps it was the lure of his eventually landing a shot at the full version of the title, if the day were to ever come where the WBA would honor its own rules. In the meantime, he was able to headline major events in his home country, leading into this weekend’s big show – one that he acknowledges as a long time coming.
“This is a special fight for me,” Braehmer said during the final pre-fight press conference earlier this week “It’s a fight I’ve wanted for a long time, and a fight the fans are excited to see.
“I will enter the ring, as I always do, with just one goal in my mind -- to win, no matter what, and with the support of the crowd in Neubrandenburg, I know I will.”
For Cleverly, there is far more at stake.
No longer is he the unbeaten boxer on the rise, with his entire future ahead of him. Nor does he enter the bout with home region advantage. A lot has changed in the career of the now 29-year old former light heavyweight titlist, whose full reign began in similar to that of this weekend’s counterpart – picking up a vacant title with a win over Aleksy Kuziemski.
In Cleverly’s case, he wound up facing the aforementioned contender from Poland on short notice after Braehmer withdrew from their scheduled May ’11 clash. A win over Tony Bellew in Oct. ’11 – their first of two meets – was the lone victory over a notable foe during the course of his unspectacular reign which ended in misery at the heavy hands of Kovalev.
A brief foray into the cruiserweight division ended with a split decision loss to Tony Bellew, along with the realization that his frame is best suited for the light heavyweight division.
Little evidence was provided in a 24-second blitzing of hopelessly overmatched Tomas Man, but far more proof came in defeat, a Fight of the Year-level 12-round slugfest with Andrzej Fonfara last October in the United States. New life was breathed into the career of Cleverly (29-3, 15KOs), despite coming up just short on the cards to put his record at 3-3 in his last six starts and also having not fought since that night.
He now fights on the road for the second straight time, including his first career trip to Germany. There is a sense of desperation preceding his title challenge, as the Welsh boxer faces a must-win situation and in hostile territory.
Yet, he views the matchup as one where – on paper – his opponent is the one who has everything to prove, and perhaps would have been better served to not pull out of their scheduled bout five years ago.
“It’s great that this fight is finally happening,” Cleverly insists. “It’s been five years in the making, and finally Braehmer is stepping up to the plate. It’s a going to be a difficult fight for me, but it has come at the wrong time for him. He’s 37 years old and reaching the end of his career, and I’m 29 and just hitting my peak.
“Juergen is a great fighter, but he’s not ready for what I’m bringing. I want this too much, and I will be bringing the belt home with me.”
Whatever waist the belt resides after this Saturday, the next destination – next in line for the Kovalev-Ward winner – makes this one well worth the wait for both boxers.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2
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