Nathan Cleverly and Ricky Burns will make up for Britain’s summer of sporting flops – by winning world titles in the autumn. Welshman Cleverly challenges for the Interim WBO World Light-Heavyweight title on September 18 at the LG Arena, Birmingham. It forms part of Frank Warren’s huge ‘Magnificent Seven’ show which features a staggering nine title fights, live and exclusive on Sky Box Office. And Cleverly is anxious to steal the show by landing the title against his unbeaten foe, Karo Murat. If champion Jurgen Brahmer is stripped of his title this summer, the fight may even be for the full belt..
Burns, meanwhile, will face Puerto Rican dangerman Roman Martinez for the WBO World Super-Featherweight crown on September 4 in Glasgow, live on Sky Sports.
Both boxers have vowed to put a smile back on the faces of British sports fans after England crashed out of the World Cup, and Andy Murray failed in his bid to become Wimbledon champion.
“I’m a patriotic Welshman, but I’ll always get behind England, Scotland and Ireland,” said Cleverly.
“When I turned up to the press conference last week to announce the September 18 show, everyone was talking about the football and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the likes of James
Degale, Frankie Gavin, Kell Brook and Sam Sexton look so down after England’s defeat.
“I watched England against Germany myself last week, and I felt pretty sorry for the England boys.
“When I meet the lads yesterday I told them straight away that I’d be getting a bit of revenge over Germany by knocking out Murat.
“The Germans might be good at football, but when it comes to boxing, they always seem to be reliant on home-town decisions.
“Fair play to Murat for coming over to Birmingham to take the fight, but he’s not going back to Germany with the title.”
Burns added: “Everyone in Scotland thought Andy was going to do it this year at Wimbledon.
“I’ll make up for his loss though. Martinez is no Rafael Nadal, and I’ll serve him up a few smashes and take away his WBO belt.”
BIRMINGHAM STARS LOOKING FORWARD TO BIG NIGHT
Birmingham stars Matthew Macklin, Frankie Gavin and Don Broadhurst can’t wait to box in their home city on September 18.
All three are fighting for titles on Frank Warren’s massive Magnificent Seven show at the LG Arena.
And they are vowing to put in explosive performances in their respective fights.
Macklin challenges Darren Barker for his old European middleweight title, while Broadhurst and Gavin are also involved in championship scraps on the Sky Box Office show.
“I’m delighted that Frank won the purse bid for me against Barker,” said Macklin at a press conference at the LG Arena today.
“Birmingham has always been a special place to fight, and I know the fans will get right behind me.
“I’ve had some big fights here at home, but I don’t think any of them have been any bigger than this one against Barker.
“I want that European title badly, but I also want a world title shot as well. Lose this one and I’m not getting a world title any time soon.”
For Warren himself, the event brings back happy memories of his first world title show.
That was 25 years ago when Colin Jones challenged welterweight king Don Curry at the NEC in Birmingham.
“My latest show is one of the most ambitious I have ever done in 30 years of promoting boxing,” said Warren.
“Jones-Curry was a massive event back in the day, but this can be bigger.
“I’ve promoted in Birmingham in the last few years, and the response has been fantastic from fans.
“They are lucky to have some very talented boxers, and the three that are involved on September 18 are in massive fights which are going to be highly competitive.”
Gavin, the 2007 Amateur World Champion, added: “I made my debut here a couple of years ago, but I have not been back since.
“Everyone keeps asking me when I will be fighting in Birmingham again, and now they know. I’d love to have every fight here, and build up a following comparable to the one Ricky Hatton did in Manchester.”
Tickets for the Magnificent Seven are priced at £40, £50, £80, £150 and £200 and are available from:
LG Arena
0844 338 8000
Ticketmaster
0844 844 0444
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
See Tickets
0871 220 0260
www.seetickets.com