BoxRec

Nathan Cleverly has retired from boxing after losing his WBA light-heavyweight title to Badou Jack.

The Welsh fighter, 30, was stopped in the fifth round by his Swedish opponent on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's win over Conor McGregor.

It was a fourth career defeat for Cleverly, who had won his WBA title with victory over Juergen Braehmer in October 2016.

"Time to say goodbye. Thank you and goodbye boxing," he wrote on Twitter.

"I've lived it and loved every second of this sport. A few too many miles on the clock."

He knows his own body so id he says yes then why should anyone disagree? He has accomplished everythin a boxer sets out to do British,Commonwealth,European and world titles on his mantle piece,well do cleverley thanks for some very entertaining fights and good luck for the future

Well done on a great career. I personally felt he was done after the second bellew fight

Wise decision - he's a clever guy outside the ring as well and has made his money and got out.

As thechump says, it is down to Cleverly. He came very close to saying goodbye vs Kovalev. It does seem a little premature at only 3 and only just into his world title reign, but it will be hard to comeback from that loss.

I do think though credit needs to be given to Jack... he looked a different animal at Light Heavyweight. Dare I say, that was a P4P top 15 performance. I don't think he beats Ward - but I would like to see Jack vs Kovalev or Stevenson.

stujones wrote:As thechump says, it is down to Cleverly. He came very close to saying goodbye vs Kovalev. It does seem a little premature at only 3 and only just into his world title reign, but it will be hard to comeback from that loss.

I do think though credit needs to be given to Jack... he looked a different animal at Light Heavyweight. Dare I say, that was a P4P top 15 performance. I don't think he beats Ward - but I would like to see Jack vs Kovalev or Stevenson.

Issue is with Stevenson he doesn't seem to get any of the big fights signed ?

His names banded to everyone.

Agree Jack was impressive and boxed well.

I would have had a farewell fight on AJs undercard at the Millenium Stadium in October...

wesshaw1985 wrote:I would have had a farewell fight on AJs undercard at the Millenium Stadium in October...

This..

wesshaw1985 wrote:I would have had a farewell fight on AJs undercard at the Millenium Stadium in October...

Buglioni?

They are probably too close friends, but seems like an opportunity was missed if Clev and Enzo Mac never fought.

wesshaw1985 wrote:I would have had a farewell fight on AJs undercard at the Millenium Stadium in October...

It would be a dangerous thing to do if his heart's not in it, I think he's made the right decision.

The Kovalev fight ruined him sadly but he's had a great career. He was never world level but he was a quality operator at European level.

Seems like a nice guy outside the ring too, good luck to him.

Took a bad hiding last night in fairness & the time was right to get out.

Good career

I was shocked at how poor he was last night.

That wasn't the same man that boxed Fonfara.
The way he boxed and the fact that Vince didn't even bother going makes me think he might have already decided that the belt was going and he was going to retire beforehand.
He's had a fantastic career, probably made good money and retires young and healthy.

Nathan has made his decision, best of luck to him, he's an illtelligent man and will do well in life

Right move. Had a decent career as well and I wish him well.

Just a real shame he was awful in that Bellew rematch though,

That really damaged his reputation.

Wise decision.

He's not world class, but he's been pitching at that level & he's done all right considering.

There's some killers at 175 & he'd get pasted if he went in against them.

After the retiremtent he will become a math teacher.

decent decision - lets hope he sticks to it and continues to do well after boxing. Always seemed like a decent guy - that Kovalev defeat was a heavy loss and he was never the same after that.

Fair play, wish him all the luck in the future

Not a huge surprise, he's looked out of love with the game for a number of years and there has been too much inactivity over the last couple of years.

I thought Murat exposed his limitations to a degree, he got hit far too much in that fight.

geronimo wrote:After the retiremtent he will become a math teacher.

I was thinking of this after his fight. He got himself a good education as well as living the life of a pro boxer so that would have made his decision easier. He is fortunate enough to have something to fall back on. He had a very good career in the ring. Wish him the best of luck for the future.

Wise decision. He's had a great career, thanks for the memories Clev

Wierd one last night. Not seen the fight yet...but cleverly appeared to be there practically by himself at one point. World title holder...on the biggest stage and there by himself. Just seemed wierd to me. Guys pretty much went through his career making horrible choices...from kovalev. sticking with vince for too long...going with what appears to be a fitness coach. Not getting a serious trainer in. Fighting badou jack in vegas for pretty basic money etc For a guy thats got a maths degree he sure as hell made some stupid decisions.

Ashame really cause reckon he could have had a very solid career without the kovalev fiasco. All the best to him tho...good guy cleverly. Just wierd when you ve got cleverly sitting with a maths degree making stupid decision after stupid decision then theres floyd mayweather unable to read etc...making all the smart decisions.

Cleverly didnt even have much of a run going into jack. No real build up for him or support. I d be surprised if many that bought the boxing even knew he was on last night until they tuned in.

Right call from Cleverly, I couldn't believe how shot he looked last night, that was a beat down and he never really showed anything apart from his grit, Cleverly's style should've gave Jack something to think about but Badou was as good as Nathan was bad