This week has seen Nathan Cleverly jump ship and join Matchroom sports after a long spell under Frank Warren promotions. This could be a good move for Cleverly after defeat to Sergey Kovalev in August of last year, which saw him lose his light-heavyweight world title.
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom have a number of quality Welsh boxers that they work with including Lee Selby, who's the current featherweight European champion, Gavin Rees, who's won nearly every title there is and he is also involved with prospect and Prizefighter champion Chris Jenkins. This move made sense for both Eddie Hearn and Nathan Cleverly as it allows Hearn to take big time boxing to Wales, with big names to sell out venues. It also gives Cleverly a chance to box in front of his home crowd with fellow Welsh boxers, whilst getting exposure on SKY sports.
Cleverly has decided that he's going to now campaign at cruiserweight and believes he will be better at the weight after spending years of trying to get down to light-heavyweight. There’s plenty of big fights for Cleverley at cruiserweight. The fight everyone wants to see is the rematch between Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew who fought before at light-heavyweight, in Liverpool. On that occasion Cleverly won but it was close and a quality fight. It’s definitely one that I'd like to see again and I'm sure they'll get it on soon. It makes sense as they both now fight at cruiserweight and are both fighting under Matchroom. Add to that the fact they really don't like each other, the fight sells itself. Big domestic fights like this are what the fans want to see.
Cleverly will make his matchroom debut in Cardiff on May 17th. It’s on a packed card, full of big domestic fights. I'm delighted to see that Gavin Rees and Gary Buckland will have a rematch for the British title just months after their first encounter, which was an all-out 12 round war and a massive fight of the season contender. On that occasion Gary Buckland got the decision but it's a fight that could've gone either way. I thought Rees had done enough but the judges thought otherwise. Big respect to Gary Buckland for taking the fight again straight away, it shows he's a real fighting man.
Also on the bill is highly regarded prospect and current English Super middleweight champion Callum Smith who will face Welsh boxer Tobias Webb. This is a good fight for Smith at this stage of his career and on paper it looks like a step up with Webb's only defeat coming to Rocky Fielding in the Prizefighter final. Webb will come to win but I personally believe Smith will have too much skill and power for Webb but that's the beauty of boxing, everyone has an opinion.
Lee Selby faces the possibility of fighting for a world title eliminator on the bill as his mandatory opponent for the European title doesn't seem to want to fight after being made a number of offers. So the route to world title looks likely for Selby who's destined for big things. Selby believes he can become the best featherweight on the planet.
This looks like a another cracking bill for Wales and boxing fans, it's good to see big time shows going to cities across the UK giving fans an opportunity to watch fighters in their local towns.
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