We saw our win streak continue with our pick of WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (29-0, 12KOs) of the United Kingdom over Diego Magdeleno (28-2, 12KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight took place this past Saturday in Flanagan’s native Manchester, England. Flanagan wasted no time in jumping on Masdeleno from the very beginning. Once he had Magdeleno hurt he did not let up. Flanagan would go on to drop Magdeleno 3 times in route to scoring the 2nd round TKO.
This week we have decided to with the fight between Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16KOs) and former world champion Nathan Cleverly (29-2, 15KOs). The bout will be the main event this Friday to take place at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, Illinois. Fonfara will be the local favorite as he resides in Chicago. He is originally from Poland but there is a large polish population in the Chicago area. The bout will be another edition of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series. Spike TV will air the event.
When boxing fans last saw Fonfara he was scoring his upset victory over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. It was a dominating performance by Fonfara who became the first to stop Chavez Jr. inside the distance. Fonfara has become one of the most improved fighters in recent years. Fonfara showed his loss to world champion Adonis Stevenson last year that he more than deserved to challenge for the world title. Fonfara was down early in the fight but roared back to drop Stevenson later in the fight. Fonfara would go on to lose a competitive world title challenge but put the light heavyweight division on notice that he was for real.
Nathan Cleverly seems on a mission to become a world champion once again. He dabbled in the cruiserweight division for a brief time but is now back at the weight where he seems best fit. He should not be caught in the moment of fighting in Fonfara’s backyard as he has fought in the United States already with success. This is a huge opportunity for Cleverly to position himself for a chance at Stevenson. Its also an opportunity for him to market himself to the viewing U.S. public that may not be familiar with him as of yet.
This has all the makings of a very competitive fight that could go either way. Neither guy is a heavy handed puncher by a longshot. They each like to mix up at times as well. That is the kind of fight that we expect to see on Friday night. Fonfara seems to have the momentum going with him and he is fighting at home. Cleverly has not looked the same since losing his world title to Sergei Kovalev a few years ago. Some sportsbooks odds have Fonfara a -240 favorite to +200 for Cleverly. We agree and are picking Fonfara to win this fight.
