Just a week away from his first with American Tommy Karpency, WBO world light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly has said he can’\t wait to bring back world championship boxing back to Wales.
World championship boxing has been absent from Wales since Joe Calzaghe’s superb super-middleweight unification fight with Mikkel Kessler in front of 55,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium in 2007.
The public and fight fans have responded brilliantly for Cleverly’s fight at the Motorpoint Arena on February 25th and it’s not gone unnoticed.
“I think there’s a lot more hype around the fight, there’s more of a buzz and a lot of excitement because it’s a homecoming event.” said Cleverly.
“A lot of people are looking forward to the event and it’s been a long time since a world title fight has taken place in Wales” so for me to bring that back is a special personal feeling for me.”
Spearheading a resurgence of Welsh boxing at championship level isn’t something that fazes Cleverly either.
He said, “Maybe there’s an added pressure but ultimately I’m enjoying that a lot more, I’m quite enjoying the so called added pressure.”
“I’m just looking forward to fighting in front of my home fans and hopefully it’s going to be a special occasion for Welsh boxing and for myself returning home as world champion.”
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