Cleverly’s world title poser as he gets third opponent

The 24-year-old Welshman meets Poland’s Aleksy Kuziemski at the O2 Arena in London tonight after a turbulent week which has seen his on-off world title dream change almost daily.

Cleverly was set to challenge Juergen Braehmer for the WBO light-heavyweight title at London’s O2 Arena but the German pulled out, only for the WBO to strip him and make Cleverly champion.

Promoter Frank Warren then brought in Cleverly’s domestic rival Tony Bellew to challenge the new champion in an all-British scrap before problems making the weight forced out the Liverpudlian.

Cleverly will, therefore, face little-known Pole Aleksy Kuziemski instead and, while he is simply relieved to be fighting with the title on the line, at times like this he almost wishes he had taken up a career in mathematics.

The former Cardiff University student said: “It’s easier, I tell you – there are less problems!

“This is boxing, though. I’ve seen it all before and had it done to me before. So here we are again.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be focused and get on with business.”

Cleverly always maintained he wanted to win the belt in the ring rather than through political manoeuvring and added: “Winning on Saturday night and having that belt around my waist is when I can say I’m a true world champion.

“I can start celebrating then and only then.”

James DeGale has vowed to avenge his 2005 amateur defeat by George Groves tonight before moving on “to bigger and better things” and targeting a world title shot.

The pair meet at the O2 Arena with DeGale’s British super-middleweight title and Groves’s Commonwealth belt on the line.

The showdown is the culmination of a six-year feud stemming from their rivalry as amateur stablemates and Groves’s victory en route to winning the national ABA championships.

DeGale insists he was “robbed” by the judges then and the sense of injustice remains, despite him going on to enjoy Olympic glory in 2008. The 25-year-old said: “I’ve waited six years for this. He beat me as an amateur – well, ‘beat me’ in inverted commas – but I went to the Olympic Games for our country and won a gold medal. Now we’re both professionals so let’s see who is the best now.”