Nathan Cleverly to Face Tommy Karpency in Homecoming Bout

Nathan Cleverly's opponent has been named for his February 25 defense of the WBO light heavyweight title in Cardiff, and it really couldn't have been much weaker a choice. 25-year-old southpaw Tommy Karpency of Pennsylvania will make the trip abroad for the title shot.

Here's what Cleverly said in a release from Frank Warren Promotions:

"This is my first fight in Cardiff for a long time and I'm looking forward to putting on a good show for my fans against Karpency. My return has created a big interest in Wales and it's going to be a fantastic welcome home on 25th February at the Motorpoint Arena.

"I've trained over Christmas and I'm in great shape already and we're still over seven weeks' away from the fight so I'll be spot on come fight night.

"Karpency looks like a tough fighter and he took Murat the distance last year and Murat gave me a hard fight. I've got big plans for this year that I hope will include a unification fight so I've got to keep busy and beat Karpency in style."

Karpency (21-2-1, 14 KO) is a club fighter with no wins of substance, but I guess the saving grace is that he wasn't horrible when he fought Murat in May 2010.

There's really no way to spin this as a good fight or a tough title defense, and it's been booked entirely as a home fight to draw some money from fans in Cardiff to come out and see the local star. Expect something similar to this for Ricky Burns' fight in Glasgow on March 10.