British Scene: Nathan Cleverly vs Danny McIntosh Preview

This Saturday at the York Hall, rising unbeaten prospects Danny McIntosh (pictured landing a right hand on the jaw of Steven Spartacus, photo © Justin McKie) and Nathan Cleverly clash for the vacant British light-heavyweight title. On the line as well will be Cleverly's Commonwealth title belt.

The under-card features former European lightweight champ Jonathan Thaxton taking on tough Essex fighter Tom Glover. Tyson Fury is also scheduled on the show, although an opponent for the young heavyweight has yet to be named.

Matt Chudley has the preview.

Make sure to check out Matt's recap of the show on Monday.

Saturday, July 18 Nathan Cleverly vs Danny McIntosh (ITV4) By Matt Chudley Unbeaten light-heavyweights Nathan Cleverly (16-0) and Danny McIntosh (10-0) headline this Saturday night's show at the York Hall. Cleverly will be putting the Commonwealth title that he won from Tony Oakey last October on the line for the 4th time, while the vacant British crown will also be up for grabs. While both fighters hold low hold knock-out ratios, both have come into their own recently and responded to a higher level of competition with more conclusive victories. McIntosh's last four fights have all ended early, including a picture perfect one punch KO of Rod Anderton on the undercard to Froch-Pascal. Fighting out of South Wales and a former Enzo Calzaghe pupil, the 22 year old Cleverly has shown great improvement over his last five fights and has began to sit down on his punches more. A Mathematics graduate from Cardiff University, he has also shown a large amount of ring savy in capitalizing on his skill set and impressive height at nearly 6'4. Proving to be one of the brighter prospects in the UK, Cleverly is heavily favoured to claim the coveted Lonsdale belt. Danny McIntosh - the house fighter after promoter Mick Hennessy won the purse bids - got a late start to the pro game at the age of 25. He's made up for lost time by moving through the pro-ranks quickly, establishing himself as a British title contender after only 8 fights by capturing the English title with a stoppage win over local rival Steven Spartacus in a heated contest last October. Against Cleverly, he finds himself as the underdog for the first time out and will undoubtedly need to show more than he has to date in order to overcome the slick accurate work of his taller and arguably faster opponent. On the under-card… Jonathan Thaxton (pictured against Juan Carlos Diaz Melero, photo © Justin McKie) takes on Tom Glover in his return to action for the first time since losing his European title to Anthony Mezaache back in February. Now 34 and having engaged in many memorable all out wars with the likes of Ricky Hatton and Eamonn Magee, Thaxton will be looking to stay sharp of a possible clash with John Murray for the vacant British Title this autumn. Glover is on a 3 bout winning streak, having scored narrow points victories over Scott Wolford, Chas Symonds and claiming a DQ win over Nadeem Siddique in his last outing a little over a month ago. Given the styles of the two men, this could very well be the most entertaining of the night’s contests. Heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury also gets another outing against a short notice opponent. With an English title showdown with John McDermott in the works, Fury will be looking to continue his impressive knock out streak and unleash some more headline grabbing sound bytes. e-mail Matt Chudley