The UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois holds another “PBC” series event tonight (Friday, October 16, 2015) as Light Heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara faces Nathan Cleverly. The Polish born Chicago resident Fonfara (27-3) is a (-220) favorite over the Brit Cleverly (29-2), who is returning at (+180) according to the latest odds at Several Bookmakers. There is no over/under posted for the 12-round bout, which is for the WBC’s International title. Cleverly held a piece of the WBO World title at Light Heavyweight from September of 2010 until August of 2013 when he was bludgeoned by Sergey Kovalev. Since then, Cleverly has floated around without much aim, as he fought a few times at Cruiserweight and he losrt a grudge match to fellow Brit Tony Bellew, a man he had beaten previosuly while he held the world title. The Bllew loss was his last bout at Cruiserweight and he seems to have rededicated himself at Light Heavyweight. Though he has fought most of his career in the UK, Cleverly did defend the world title in the United States in November of 2012 (defeating Shawn Hawk) and he also fought an 8 rounder earlier in his career, so the trip overseas is not new to him. Fonfara burst to the attention of the boxing world in his last outing, when he beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr back to the Super Middleweight division this past April. But observers of the Light Heavyweight division have taken notice as his only loss in the past seven years has come at the hands of Adonis Stevenson, whom he took the distnace in a gutsy showing in May of 2014. Though Cleverly will likely travel with a good number of British fans, Fonfara’s ethnic support form the huge Chicago-area Polish community makes this a hometown fight for him. The live event features 8 fights overall, and the co-feature has an all-Japanese showdown as Kohei Kono (30-8-1) defends his piece of the WBA World Super Flyweight title against Koki Kameda (33-1), so check back later this week at the sport books to see if additonal lines are set for this card.
