By Terence Dooley

WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly will now defend his title against Aleksy Kuziemski. As previously reported, Tony Bellew was unable to make the required division limit of 175-pounds in a safe manner, and promoter Frank Warren, and the champion, refused to face Bellew in a non-title catch-weight bout.

This is the second opponent switch for Cleverly in the last few days, after previous opponent Juergen Braehmer withdrew from the contest on Tuesday and then Bellew stepped in on late notice - but the British Boxing Board of Control denied him permission to fight, at 175, on safety grounds - after Bellew failed a weight check on Thursday evening.

"He fulfills all the criteria," Warren told Sky Sports. "It's been a nightmare to say the least. But we've managed to keep the show together. We've still got James DeGale and George Groves fighting. But this has been a nightmare."

The unbeaten Welshman, declared World Champion by the WBO today after Braehmer was stripped, now tackles the number 11 ranked Kuziemski who was considered as a challenger to Cleverly before Bellew put himself forward for the fight. 

 

From Swiece in Poland, but now based out of Hamburg, Germany, Kuziemski has a good record of 21 wins from 23 fights and is the former WBO Intercontinental/German/EBA Light-Heavyweight Champion. 

 

"I think I've been through everything in the last 48 hours, the main thing for me is that I'm still fighting and that all my hard work has not gone to waste," said Cleverly. 

 

"It's been a mad time, but I've been through this before and I'm professional enough to deal with it, let's face it, any problems after this fight will be nothing in comparison," 

 

"I've got to get my head round to focusing on Kuziemski now, he is the man in front of me on Saturday night so I've got to forget about Bellew and Braehmer altogether," 

 

"He's got a good record, he's highly ranked and he's been in with some good guys so he won't be a pushover." 

The fight takes place at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night.