Boxing: Juergen Braehmer pulls out of Nathan Cleverly title fight
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Your support makes all the difference.Nathan Cleverly's world title challenge on Saturday has been scrapped after WBO light-heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer pulled out today.
Welshman Cleverly is already the 'interim' title holder and had been set to face the outright champion at the 02 Arena in London on Saturday.
However, an eye injury suffered in training has seemingly forced the German out of the bout to leave Cleverly frustrated. The Welshman's promoter Frank Warren is thought to be lobbying the WBO to strip Braehmer and upgrade his fighter to full champion status or let him fight for the vacant belt this weekend.
The 02 Arena card will still go ahead, with the joint headline fight between British super-middleweight champion James DeGale and fierce rival George Groves the bigger draw anyway.
Braehmer's stock is already low due to the 32-year-old having only defended his belt once since winning it in 2009 while also pulling out of a January unification fight with Beibut Shumenov.
Cleverly, meanwhile, has been preparing for his defining night and training to face a southpaw. The 24-year-old suffered similar frustration in his last fight in December when Alejandro Lakatos pulled out of their fight for the interim title and he had to face late-notice replacement Nadjib Mohammedi instead.
The Cefn Forest fighter told Sky Sports News: "I'm absolutely devastated, to be honest. He's ducked out of fighting me.
"I knew he didn't want the fight with me so I was a bit anxious, I knew he was a temperamental character and had a feeling he wouldn't turn up.
"I can't understand the mentality. He's taken the easy route and decided not to fight me, and it's so frustrating."
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