WBO Say No to Cleverly Bout

The World Boxing Organisation has refused to sanction Nathan Cleverly's world title shot with Robin Krasniqi at London's Royal Albert Hall on 28 April.

The WBO gave Cleverly permission to fight Tommy Karpency in February as long as their champion's next defence was against their mandatory challenger.

And Cleverly was told to fight Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky within 120 days of beating American Karpency on points.

The WBO say Cleverly's Krasniqi bout "cannot and would not be sanctioned."

The fight could go ahead as a non-title fight but if promoter Frank Warren wants Cleverly's fourth defence to be a WBO world title fight, the opponent will have to be changed to 30-year-old Sukhotsky.

But Warren wanted the undefeated Welshman to fight Serbian Krasniqi in what he was hoping to be the first world title show at the Albert Hall in over a decade.

Warren announced the Krasniqi clash at a London press conference on Tuesday lunchtime but the WBO issued a statement on their website almost immediately.

The statement said: "Francisco Valcarcel commented that because Nathan Cleverly's sanction against Karpency clearly stated that the bout was being sanctioned with the provision that the winner fight his mandatory bout 120 days from the day of the bout, subject to the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests."

Cleverly was due to be the first Welshman to appear in a world title fight at the Albert Hall since Howard Winstone beat Mitsunori Seki to win the WBC featherweight crown in January 1968.

The 25-year-old's fight was to be on the same night as Bernard Hopkins's WBC world light-heavyweight title rematch with Chad Dawson in Atlantic City.

And Warren then wanted the winners of the two fights to meet in the summer.

Too Cleverly for Karpency

Wales' Nathan Cleverly retained his WBO light-heavyweight title against difficult American opponent Tommy Karpency in Cardiff.

Karpency took Cleverly the distance, but the judges' decision was unanimous.

"He was tough," said Cleverly, who remains Britain's only world champion following recent defeats suffered by David Haye, Amir Khan and Carl Froch.

"Out of every fighter I've fought, he's punched the hardest so far. And I've fought some big punchers."

Cleverly, who achieved his aim of joining the Triple Crown-winning Welsh rugby team in securing success on the international stage, added: "It was a nice performance and there's plenty more to come from me.

"I started off not too careless or reckless, and I thought he was wilting. But he relaxed on the back foot and didn't waste energy.

"The most important thing was returning home as world champion.

"My last 11 fights have been on the road. It was an electric atmosphere and I absolutely loved it. I hope the fans enjoyed it."

Cleverly wanted to put Welsh boxing back on the map in his third defence - his first fight on home turf in almost four years.

It was also the first world title bout in Wales since Joe Calzaghe beat Mikkel Kessler in 2007.

Karpency, 26, achieved his early aim at the Motorpoint Arena by largely silencing Cleverly's fans, beginning with a venom that belied his pre-fight status as underdog.

The Welshman took an early straight shot that shook him and underlined the threat he faced.

But, instead of heeding his corner's advice "not to get involved", Cleverly accepted Karpency's invitation to go toe-to-toe in the early rounds.

Ahead of the fourth round Karpency was showing signs of fatigue and his opponent began to impose his class on the contest.

However, Karpency remained a confident opponent as he responded to Cleverly's aggression in kind in the fifth round.

Cleverly caught his rival with a good left in the sixth round, but his opponent continued to prove durable.

The eighth round lacked spark as Cleverly's approach altered to err on the side of caution against an opponent who had the potential to deliver a knockout blow.

In the ninth Cleverly made good contact with a combination that got his fans on their feet.

But Karpency spun away and eluded further danger and the contest continued without either boxer seriously threatening to stop the other.

Cardiff City fan Cleverly, 25, now hopes his football team can complete a different type of Triple Crown by beating Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in Sunday's Carling Cup final.

Cleverly Seeking Froch

WBO light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly is considering a summer fight with former WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch in Cardiff.

Unbeaten Cleverly must first beat American Tommy Karpency at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena on 25 February.

Promoter Frank Warren has said he then wants to stage a June open air fight at the Cardiff City Stadium.

"Frank's got big plans for me and to fight at Cardiff City's ground would be a dream," said Cleverly.

"I'm still only 24 and time is on my side to achieve a lot of things.

"I know the big super-fights will come, I've just got to keep putting on good displays and we are progressively getting there.

"In the meantime I can't be complacent by taking my eye off the ball and let Karpency upset the plans."

Warren said former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Froch would be an ideal opponent for Cleverly at Cardiff City Stadium.

Froch, who lost his WBC and WBA super-middleweight titles to Andre Ward last December, expressed a desire last year to step up a weight and fight Cleverly.

Cleverly has said he would be open to a future bout against the Nottingham fighter.

"I would like to see Nathan fight again in early June at Cardiff City's ground in a big open-air show," said Warren.

"If Carl Froch wants to step up a weight and fight him then I'd take that fight in a heartbeat, he's made for Nathan.

"Then I'd be looking for Nathan to have a unification fight, hopefully in September against one of the other title holders."

Before any possible summer bout against Froch or a future unification fight against WBC champion Bernard Hopkins or WBA title-holder Beibut Shumenov, Cleverly defends his title for a third time against Karpency at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena.

The fight on 25 February against the 25-year-old American will be Cleverly's first in Wales since he defeated Joey Vegas on points at the Millennium Stadium in November 2007.

A one-time WBO Inter-Continental light heavyweight title challenger, Karpency has 21 wins from 24 fights, including 14 knock-outs.

Karpency lost to Karo Murat for the WBO inter-continental light heavyweight belt in May 2010 and has fought only once since then.

"I saw Karo Murat's fight against Karpency when I was preparing for my fight against Murat and I saw that he's a southpaw, tough, rugged and strong," said Cleverly.

"He'll come to have a fight with me, but I'll break him down and look good doing it."