EXCLUSIVE: Nathan Cleverly: 'Forget McGregor and Mayweather, I'll be real star of Vegas bill'

ByAaron S. Lee

Updated 25/08/2017 at 13:25 GMT+1

World light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly and pro debutant Savannah Marshall represent Britain on the ‘fight of the century’ undercard in Las Vegas.

Nathan Cleverly spoke to Eurosport in Las Vegas.

Image credit: Eurosport

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor may be garnering the majority of the media attention over the past two months in the lead up to the ‘fight of the century’ in Las Vegas on Saturday night, but a couple of British fighters were on hand to talk to Eurosport about their own fights in Sin City.

Wales native and reigning WBA light heavyweight champion Cleverly (30-3, 16 KOs) defends against Sweden’s Badou Jack (21-1-2, 12 KOs), who moves up from super middleweight where he has only one loss.

Cleverly knows the eyes of Britain are on him and tells Eurosport he is ready for the challenge against the 33-year-old former super middleweight from Stockholm.

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“Myself and Badou Jack is a great fight alone,” he told Eurosport. “So to be a part of this mega event is extra special. McGregor is representing Ireland and me and young Savannah on the undercard are representing the UK, and we are going to fly the flag proudly.

Boxers Badou Jack (L) and WBA light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly pose after arriving at Toshiba Plaza on August 22, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cleverly will defend his title against Jack at T-Mobile Arena on August 26 in Las Vegas.

Image credit: Eurosport

“Badou Jack is fresh at light heavyweight, so he may feel more energy at this class, but he is coming up against an established light heavyweight and I am am going to introduce him in good fashion to the division.

Mark my words, this will be the fight of the night. I will defend my title and leave the ring still champion of the world.

"I have no regrets in my career,” said the 30-year-old Welshman from Caerphilly, who is making his first title defence since winning the belt from German Jüergen Bräehmer in July of last year.

“I like taking risks in this sport. I fought [Sergey] Kovalev when I was 26, I fought [Tony] Bellew at cruiserweight, I fought [Andrzej] Fonfara in Chicago, Bräehmer in Germany and now I'm fighting Badou Jack, who's on the rise. I love the big fights.

"It's a high-risk high reward fight,” the two-time world champion continued. “

The winner of this is in line for Andre Ward and the super WBA title. This is a solid world title fight between two guys who want to be at the top of the division.

Cleverly is not the only Brit fighter on the undercard, as 2014 Commenwealth Games women’s middleweight gold medallist Savannah Marshall is making her professional debut after amassing an amateur record of 110-14.

The 26-year-old London native is the only boxer to defeat 2012 Olympic gold medallist Claressa Shields, a fighter she is destined to meet again. But the Rio Olympian must first overcome American Sydney LeBlanc (4-3-1), who Shields defeated two months ago in a WBC silver super middleweight title fight.

Savannah Marshall is set to make her debut on the Floyd Mayweather bill.

Image credit: Eurosport

“She is tough and obviously experienced,” Marshall told Eurosport about her opponent. “She likes to come forward. It would be silly for me to try and fight her, because I could hit her with the kitchen sink and she’ll still be there. So it’s just about being smart.