Nathan Cleverly to face Ryan Coyne on Mares-Moreno undercard

WBO light heavyweight titlist Nathan Cleverly will defend his title against Ryan Coyne on November 10, part of the Mares-Moreno undercard on Showtime.

Cleverly (24-0, 11 KO) passed over an October 27 date in Cardiff, Wales, against Vyacheslav Uzelkov, to take the spot on the Golden Boy undercard. Coyne (21-0, 9 KO) is not a legitimate contender -- BoxRec have him ranked 73rd in the world -- and he arguably lost last year to a guy (David McNemar) who hadn't fought since 2007, and had never fought anyone good.

Coyne, 30, is really no better a challenger than Tommy Karpency was earlier this year, or Robin Krasniqi would have been before Cleverly pulled out of that fight. The 25-year-old "world champion" says he's targeting bigger fights after this one, but that remains to be seen. This is a second straight non-contender opponent for Cleverly, a step back from the Uzelkov idea, even, and there's just no getting around the fact that he's not facing very good opposition considering he's supposed to be at the elite level of his division.

But, like I said before, I do think getting him to the States is a good idea and if there's any real ambition in him, it's something he needs to make it known he's willing to travel for a big fight if he must.