BTBC House Fighter Update

It's time for a House Fighter update, as the best prospects in the game are getting busy turning into contenders and title challengers. Nate James (Heavyweight), Troy Ross (Cruiserweight) and Lamont Peterson (Junior Welterweight) have yet to fight under the House Fighter banner. Here's a track record of every fight involving a House Fighter so far.

Results

January 29 - Erislandy Lara TKO-10 Grady Brewer (Junior Middleweight)
February 13 - James DeGale TKO-2 Matthew Barr (Super Middleweight)
February 13 - Nathan Cleverly TKO-5 Antonio Brancalion (Light Heavyweight)
February 27 - Mike Jones UD-10 Henry Bruseles (Welterweight)
March 12 - Kell Brook TKO-5 Krzysztof Bienias (Welterweight)
March 27 - Daniel Jacobs RTD-1 Jose Miguel Rodriguez Berrio (Middleweight)

BTBC House Fighter Record: (6-0, 5 KO)

Schedule

April 2 - Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Perez (Junior Middleweight)
April 10 - Lamont Peterson vs. Damian Fuller (Junior Welterweight)
April 17 - Mike Jones vs. Hector Munoz (Welterweight)
May 1 - Daniel Jacobs vs. TBA (Middleweight)

Erislandy Lara fights Danny Perez on Showtime tonight, hoping to win for the second time under the BTBC banner. Keep checking the forum for more House Figher polls as we keep climbing down the weight classes.

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House Fighter Cleverly Canes Brancalion

BTBC Light Heavyweight House Fighter Nathan Cleverly (19-0, 9 KOs) annihilated a defenceless Antonio Brancalion at the Wembley Arena, winning the vacant European light heavyweight title in the process with a fifth round stoppage.

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Nathan Cleverly vs. Antonio Brancalion: House Fighter vs. Club Fighter

Erislandy Lara got the House Fighter Project off to the best possible start with a tenth-round stoppage victory over the experienced Grady Brewer on January 29. Now it’s Nathan Cleverly and James DeGale’s turn to advance another step in their fledging careers.

Nathan Cleverly (18-0, 8 KO) challenges Antonio Brancalion (32-7-2, 8 KO), an over-the-hill but experienced Italian veteran. Brancalion has been in the rings with name opponents in the past such as Mario Veit and Stipe Drews, losing both by unanimous decision. The fight will be for the vacant European light heavyweight title.

In his last outing, Brancalion stumbled across jail-bound Juergen Braehmer for the same belt that will be on the line on Saturday. The Italian was down three times during the ninety-seven second-long contest. Braehmer went on to capture the vacant WBO light heavyweight title by defeating Dmitry Sukhotsky via unanimous decision, before later being sentenced for assault.

The Italian is game, even if his last fight suggested differently. He’s tall at 6 ft 1, but Cleverly still holds a 3 inch advantage in height. Brancalion is a boxer, but not as good as Cleverly. Brancalion has a tiny bit of power in his punches, but not half as much as Cleverly. And that’s the story across the field; he’s not as good as Cleverly.

Cleverly, 22, is currently ranked by every alphabet organization, #2 with the WBO, #3 IBF, #5 WBC and #12 by the WBA. He’s expected to challenge for the IBF title later in the year, maybe against Tavoris Cloud, maybe not. Rumours are that Cloud will defend his belt against Glen Johnson, before relinquishing his strap so he can face Chad Dawson instead. However, Cloud needs to get through Johnson first; Cleverly needs to get through Brancalion too.

The fight was scheduled to be held in Italy, but Brancalion demanded that the date was pushed back suggesting problems of making weight. The wily fox Frank Warren claimed ownership of the fight and posted it on the Night of Champions show.

This should be relatively straight forward for Clever Boy, but as we’ve seen in the past, not all prospects make it to the promise land. Take one eye off the ball and the veteran will pocket his chance.

The fight will headline Frank Warren’s Night of Champions, which was a juicy fight card before Kell Brook, Danny Williams and Sam Sexton all pulled out for different reasons. Also on the card, Kevin Mitchell will face blown-up Colombian super featherweight Ignacio Mendoza at 135 pounds and promising unbeaten heavyweight Derek Chisora will square up to the infamous Carl Baker. There are plenty of undefeated prospects on show too, one of which is James DeGale, our super middleweight House Fighter.

James ‘Chunky’ DeGale (5-0, 3 KO) will face china chinned Matthew Barr (14-5, 6 KO) scheduled for six rounds. In his last fight, Barr faced unbeaten French super middleweight Jean Paul Mendy, retiring in the fourth round claiming an injury.

DeGale is improving as he gathers more rounds under his belt, and this is visible with the level of competition he’s facing. Of course, the Gold Medallist is very carefully matched by Warren, but he’s not facing eastern European punchbags, at least he’s fighting domestic level, and that’s well respected in Britain.

I expect both House Fighters to win on Saturday, and hopefully they will. Two undefeated fighters at different stages in their careers will hopefully raise our record to 3-0. If you want to catch a glimpse of our House Fighters, tune-in onto the forum Saturday afternoon.

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The BTBC House Fighters (Heavyweight, Cruiserweight, Light Heavyweight)

The members of The Boxing Tribune Blue Corner (BTBC) decided to make 2010 personal by selecting a house fighter to follow in each weight class.

The BTBC House Fighter, as voted by the members of the community, is the fighter that most represents our community through either style, attitude or ability.

To avoid the label of front-runner, The BTBC has limited their choices for house fighter to only those who have yet to receive a world title shot.

Good luck to those fighters selected for this honor...the full support of boxing's pound for pound best fan forum is behind you every step of the way. Make us proud!

The votes have been tabulated for our first three divisions and here are the winners:

BTBC Heavyweight House Fighter

Nate James
Age: 28
Record: 2-0, 1 KO
Nationality: American

Given the current state of the heavyweight division, The BTBC decided to throw their support behind one of the young lions of the weight class.

James, the 2007 National Golden Glove Super Heavyweight Champion, compiled an impressive amateur record of 83-11, winning four New England Golden Gloves Championships in the process.

In March 2008, James turned professional with Joe DeGuardia’s StarBoxing, but frustrated by an inability to land bouts, he bought himself out of his contract to become a free agent.

Hall-of-fame trainer Emmanuel Steward invited James to help Wladmir Klitschko prepare for his upcoming contest against Tony Thompson. The 6ft 5 southpaw impressed Steward with his athleticism, and was offered the opportunity to debut on the undercard. He quickly found his feet in the pro game, outpointing Timo Schwarm over four one-sided rounds.

Vitali Klitschko invited him to spar in preparation for Vitali’s first defense of the WBC title against Juan Carlos Gomez. He was offered another spot on the undercard for his services, this time blitzing Taras Varva in the first round.

He’s been made chief sparring partner for Wladmir Klitschko, which is surely a positive sign if he can be competitive with Wladmir at this early stage of his career.

Shaped by direct and indirect lessons from high profile boxing minds such as Al Mitchell, Emmanuel Steward, Chris Byrd and the Klitschko Brothers, many insiders see Nate James as a "can't miss" prospect...The BTBC sees him as their house fighter.

Do us proud, Nate!

BTBC Cruiserweight House Fighter

At this point, the voting is too close to call...this position will be vacant until we have a decisive winner.

BTBC Light Heavyweight House Fighter

Name: Nathan Cleverly
Age: 22
Record: 18-0, 8 KOs
Nationality: British

After an amateur record of 32-4, Nathan ‘Clever Boy’ Cleverly started his pro career fighting four rounders on Joe Calzaghe undercards. It didn't take long for him to be fast tracked into his first meaningful bout.

Cleverly came up against an undefeated Tony Quigley, a former MMA fighter that had a massive Scouser following. With Cleverly receiving abuse from every corner of the stands for his nationality, he stunned everyone by stopping Quigley in the fifth round.

He was promoted to chief sparring partner for Joe Calzaghe, and fought over 400 rounds with the undefeated champion. He took his sparring experience as he decided to permanently campaign at light heavyweight and struggled in his first televised fight against Joey Vegas, but still managed to outpoint the orthodox opponent.

Cleverly then travelled with Team Calzaghe to Las Vegas, where he shutout Antonio Barker over eight rounds in a showy performance that earned high praise from the HBO broadcasting team.

In September 2008, Cleverly decided to leave Enzo Calzaghe’s stable to team up with his father, Vince. Cleverly had also been torn between joining Calzaghe Promotions or re-signing with Sports Network, but Cleverly made a wise call and stayed with Frank Warren.

The decision paid off as he was chosen to replace Dean Francis on two weeks notice to fight Tony Oakey for the vacant commonwealth title. In a fast fight, Cleverly decided to mix it up early on before outboxing the older Oakey for the final half of the fight, winning by comprehensive scores of 119-110, 117-111 and 116-112.

Still determined to complete his math degree at Cardiff University, he managed to balance studying and training to maintain his perfect record. Cleverly graduates this Summer and is hoping for an unrealistic double, winning a world title to go with his graduation.

Three defenses later, all coming by early stoppage, Cleverly challenged unbeaten Danny McIntosh for the British crown. Cleverly unexpectedly brawled with the stronger McIntosh, flooring him twice in the second round and once in the third. Cleverly failed to close the show and allowed McIntosh to creep back into contention. The referee saved the brave McIntosh in the seventh following a barrage of punches teed off by The Welshman.

He was edged out by Kell Brook for the prestigious Boxing Writers Club young boxer of the year award by one vote in the closest vote in history of the award.

His next opponent was spoiler Courtney Fry, a counter punching boxer with amateur pedigree. Cleverly dominated from the opening bell, but struggled to deal with Fry staying on the ropes until a perfect one-two rattled Fry in the eighth to force the stoppage.

‘Clever Boy’ will face his toughest test to date, against Antonio Brancalion in the Italian’s backyard. Can our light heavyweight house fighter capture the vacant European title on January 27?

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Cleverly Plans Italian Job

Nathan Cleverly will have to travel to Italy to face Antonio Brancalion for the vacant European light heavyweight belt.

His promoter Frank Warren narrowly lost the purse bid to OPI 2000, Brancalion’s promoters. Brancalion is an ex-European title-holder will have until November the 3rd to tell Cleverly’s team the date and venue of the fight, which is likely to be on December the 5th, the same date as Amir Khan’s title defence.

Brancalion recently suffered a first round stoppage defeat to German Juergen Braehmer who will fight for the interim WBO light heavyweight title later this year.

Cleverly currently holds the British and Commonwealth light heavyweight belts, whilst studying a maths degree in Cardiff University. He’s quickly being considered in the top bracket at light-heavyweight and hopes to fight for a world title next year.

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The UK Beat Report (10/14/09)

by Dafs117

Welcome to the second UK Beat Report, a monthly wrap-up of the fight scene in the United Kingdom.

The month was marred by the death of Darren Sutherland (4-0, 4 KOs). The Irish bronze medallist was found dead by his promoter Frank Maloney in the boxer’s flat. Sutherland was a talented fighter and definitely one for the future.

September started off with a bang as a featherweight duel took place in the north-east. There was a decent crowd at Middlesbrough watching the highly anticipated featherweight rematch between John Simpson (20-6, 8 KOs) and Paul Truscott (13-2, 1 KO). Simpson stopped Truscott early on in the 10th on cuts.

Tyson Fury (9-0, 7 KOs) scored a controversial points victory over John McDermott (25-6, 16 KO) at Brentwood Centre, Essex. The contest was for ‘Big Bad’ John’s English Heavyweight Title. Terry O’Connor scored the fight 98-92 to Fury, while others at ringside had it 4 rounds to McDermott. The BBBofC have announced that they want the rematch to take place in the next 90 days. Another lanky heavyweight, Tom Dallas (7-0, 5 KOs) stopped Hungarian journeyman Mihaly Nemet (12-16-1, 4 KOs) in superb style in the first round. Dallas, who’s 6’6’’ and weighed only 229 lbs, knocked Nemet down 3 times and the bout was stopped 01:14 in Dallas’ quickest stoppage yet. Ashley Sexton (8-0, 4 KOs) also continued his rise with a first round technical knockout victory over Darli Gonvalves Pires (17-8-1, 8 KOs).

Clinton Woods has announced his retirement from the sport. He recently dropped a unanimous decision to Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KOs) for the vacant IBF light-heavyweight title. Junior Witter (37-3-2, 22 KOs) will carry on despite calls for him to retire. He will move up to challenge at welterweight.

Ricky Hatton’s first promotion night couldn’t have gone any better with Matthew Macklin (25-2, 18 KOs) scored a stunning first round knockout over world level Finnish fighter Amin Asikainen (26-3, 17 KOs). Featherweight prospect Joe Murray (4-0, 1 KO) continued his rise through the domestic scene with a first round stoppage victory over Delroy Spencer (11-88-3, 1 KO).

Bernard Dunne’s (28-2, 15 KOs) reign of the WBA title in a very deep junior featherweight division and his first defence didn’t last more than three rounds against Thai Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (39-1, 28 KOs). He was in line for a major pay-day against Celestino Caballero (33-2, 23 KOs). Tyson Fury (9-0, 7 KOs) fought to a points victory on the undercard.

David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) was ringside at McDermott-Fury and said that his preparation for his upcoming title tilt against Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) is going according to plan. Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer, said it was likely that Haye would weigh around 230 lbs in the Valuev fight on the 7th of November in Germany. Haye is looking to spar with Tyson Fury ahead of his fight at Nurenburg. The long-awaited rematch between Sam Sexton (12-1, 5 KOs) and Martin Rogan (12-1, 6 KOs) has been postponed due to a back injury suffered by challenger Rogan. Their first bout got stopped by a mouse under Rogan’s left eye when it appeared that Sexton was out on his feet. The bout will take place at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast on the 6th of November.

Nathan Cleverly (18-0, 8 KOs) headlined at York Hall against lanky Englishman Courtney Fry (13-3, 5 KOs) on October the 9th. He won by 8th round stoppage over former Commenwealth Games champion Fry. Cleverly has been nominated to fight for the vacant European light heavyweight title against Antonio Brancalion and the fight could take place on December the 5th. On the undercard, Derek Chisora (11-0, 6 KOs) fought for the first time since his biting ban last March and won by thir round stoppage. The Heavyweight Prizefighter III draw was made by a certain ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson. Mike Holden (10-9-1, 6 KOs) was pulled out of the competition as he was floored by Tomas Mzarek (4-22-5, 3 KOs) in the third round of their scheduled four round bout. Michael Sprott (31-14, 16 KOs) also pulled out after the tragic death of his sister.

Audley Harrison (26-4, 19 KOs) won the tournament with a stoppage victory over Irish outsider Coleman Barrett (10-1, 2 KOs). Harrison still believes he could get a world title-shot next year with the help of Barry Hearn. Danny Williams (41-8, 31 KOs) was stunned by Carl Baker (9-4, 6 KOs) and will probably retire by the time of the next beat report.

The dream domestic lightweight contenst between John Murray (28-0, 16 KOs) and Jon Thaxton (34-11, 19 KOs) took place at Altincham, Chester on October 3. The bout was for the vacant British lightweight strap after Murray failed to make the weight by 1.5 oz in his previous bout against Scott Lawton (26-5-1, 5 KOs). John Murray won by fourth round stoppage and after the fight, Jon Thaxton retired from the sport.

Esham Pickering (34-9, 13 KOs) was defeated in an European featherweight title bout against Oleg Yefimovych (17-1, 11 KOs) by third round knockout. He has admitted that he will not hang up his gloves yet.

Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) will begin his quest for super middleweight domination with a fight against Andre Dirrell (19-0, 12 KOs) in a battle of skill versus will at Nottingham. The fight is on the 17th of October for Froch’s WBC super middleweight title.

Jason Booth (33-5, 13 KOs) will fight at Sunderland on October 16 against Michael Hunter (29-1-1, 13 KOs) and is hoping for an impressive performance to land a title shot at 122 lbs. A bout with Bernard Dunne (28-2, 15 KOs) or Rendall Munroe (19-1, 8 KOs) could be next.

If Jamie Moore, (32-3, 23 KOs) beats Ryan Rhodes (42-4, 28 KOs) in an all British light-middleweight contest, he would get a shot at either Sergio Gabriel Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KOs) or Cory Spinks (37-5, 11 KOs). Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0-1, 30 KOs) is also a name branded about. Gary Davis (9-2-1, 7 KOs) will defend his Lonsdale belt against slickster Ian Napa (18-7, 1 KO).

The next report will be at the end of October and will concentrate on David Haye’s heavyweight challenge against giant Nikolay Valuev. The Hayemaker could be set to take the British heavyweight lead from Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) the only modern day heavyweight champion to have beaten every opponent he has ever faced.

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Cleverly Beats Fry; Brancalion Bout Next

Nathan Cleverly TKO 8 Courtney Fry

Heavily favoured Welsh light-heavyweight Nathan Cleverly 18-0 (8 KOs) retained his Commonwealth and British belt with an eighth round stoppage victory over spoiler Courtney Fry 13-3 (5 KOs) at the York Hall. Fry is a 3 time ABA champion and won gold at the Commonwealth games in 1998 and was by far Cleverly’s biggest test since his unanimous decision victory over Tony Oakey last year.

With his all-action style and increasingly apparent talent, Cleverly, 174, Cefn Fforest, Wales, is gradually emerging as a world class light-heavyweight. In this bout, headlined by the Cardiff maths student, Fry, 173, Liverpool, England, proved to be a sterner test for Cleverly than expected, as he competed for seven rounds against the unbeaten prospect.

Early in the first round, the ‘Clever Boy’ was catching Fry with forceful shots and nailed Fry with uppercuts. The story was the same in the second round as Cleverly dictated with his longer reach and much quicker reflexes than his opponent. Fry, who hadn’t fought since his 3 round points defeat to Tony Oakey in February’s Prizefighter, began to land his jab in the third round successfully, and began to make things difficult for Cleverly.

In the 5th round, the most exciting round of the contest, Fry landed a wild left hook which got Cleverly’s attention before backing him up into the ropes with uppercuts and right hands. Later on in the round, Cleverly’s powerful body shots found their home on the former amateur champion’s waistline and his uppercuts grazed Fry’s chin on many occasions as they brawled in a competitive round.

The Welshman changed tactics and negatively jabbed his way to win the 6th and 7th round before he wasted little time in finishing Fry off in the eighth. The 6’3’’ student waded in and landed several right hands which staggered Fry before the referee Victor Loughlin made the right call by halting the contest at 2:51 in the 8th round. The champion was comfortably ahead on points before the stoppage came, winning every round bar one on every judge’s scorecard.

Nathan Cleverly has recently been nominated to fight for the European trinket against Italian Antonio Brancalion. Cleverly’s promoter Frank Warren, suggested December the 5th as a date that could see Cleverly come an European champion. The big question still remains, Is is too early for Cleverly to step up? Brancalion was recently stopped by Juergen Braehmer in the 1st round.

On the undercard, heavyweight Derek Chisora 11-0 (6 KOs) made his comeback from a biting ban by stopping Zurab Noniashvilli in the third round. Middleweight prospect Billy Joe Saunders 4-0 (3 KOs) won on points against durable opponent Alex Spitko.

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Cleverly to Fight for Vacant European 175 lb. Belt

Welsh light-heavyweight sensation Nathan Cleverly, has been nominated to fight for the vacant European light-heavyweight belt. The 22 year-old British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion has a perfect record and will defend his titles on Friday night against Courtney Fry at York Hall.

Former Olympian Fry, 34, recently suffered a points defeat in his last outing to Tony Oakey in the light-heavyweight Prizefighter tournament. Nathan Cleverly 17-0 (7 KOs) won the vacant Commonwealth light-heavyweight belt against Oakey in a 12 round unanimous victory. The Cardiff University maths student then added the British title to his collection with a stoppage victory over Danny McIntosh in July. Cleverly has always declared his interest in claiming the Lonsdale belt outright before moving on to world honours.

“It’s been a big boost being nominated for the European title. There’s only one fight that I’m focusing on at the moment and that’s my next one. Obviously it’s up to my promoter Frank Warren who I fight, but if he thinks the European title is the way to go then I’ll bite his hand off if he offers me that fight.

“My ultimate aim is to win a world title, but I’ve always wanted to go the traditional route o winning British, Commonwealth and European titles before I get there. I’ve got a few options at the moment and I’m excited about what the next 12 months will bring.”

Nathan Cleverly was recently edged to the Britain’s boxer of the year to Sheffield welterweight Kell Brook. Only one vote separated both undefeated fighters in prestigious Boxing Writers’ Club award.

Cleverly and Fry fight out of an orthodox style and Cleverly holds a 2-inch height advantage. If ‘Clever Boy’ wants to continue his knockout streak, his body shots will be key. My prediction is that Cleverly would win a shutout unanimous decision.

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