Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany - Nathan Cleverly (30-3, 16KOs) picked up a sixth round TKO victory over veteran Juergen Braehmer (48-3, 35KOs) to capture the WBA 'regular light heavyweight championship. The fight was stopped after the sixth, after Braehmer appeared to have suffered an injury to his right arm. The result was officially a seven round TKO because Braehmer's corner stopped the fight at the start of the seventh.

Braehmer's promoter, Kalle Sauerland of Sauerland Event, said after the bout that his fighter suffered a dislocated elbow.

Cleverly was scheduled to meet Braehmer for the WBO title in 2011, but with only days to go before the Welshman’s first World title challenge, Braehmer withdrew, leaving Cleverly to fight Aleksy Kuziemski for the vacant belt. Cleverly won the belt, but lost it in 2013 when he was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev. He had a brief sting at cruiserweight before moving back down to 175-pounds.

Braehmer won the 'regular' title back in December of 2013 and this was his seventh defense of the belt.

nathan-cleverly_2

Cleverly came out in the first with a quick pace and landing good punches to the head and body. Braehmer, looking to switch things up, came out with a busy pace of his own in the second, standing his ground and going toe to toe with the challenger on the inside. The third round was basically a repeat of the second. Cleverly was the busier fighter, but Braeher was blocking a lot of the shots and landing the more eye-catching shots. 

In the fourth, Cleverly continued to throw at a high pace and Braehmer continued to land the more telling shots. At the end of the round, Cleverly landed four hard punches. It seemed the tempo got even busier in the fifth, with both fighters having their moments with big punches landing. The fight was stopped after the sixth round, due to an injury suffered by Braehmer to the right arm. A very strange closer, as Braehmer never seemed hurt or in trouble during the sixth round. He was giving as good as he was getting and even Cleverly was surprised when the referee waved off the fight.

The WBA's super champion at 175-pounds is Sergey Kovalev, who defends that belt against Andre Ward on November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The winner of that fight will eventually have to face Cleverly.