DAMNED if he did, damned if he didn’t, Cefn Fforest’s Nathan Cleverly was on a hiding to nothing on Saturday night, writes Michael Pearlman.

Never mind that he looked a million dollars back at light heavyweight, as opposed to the painfully weight-drained and subdued fighter who entered the ring to face Sergey Kovalev.

Never mind that he roared out of his corner and threw left and right shots with abandon from the first bell, as opposed to the shot-shy and subdued fighter who entered the ring to face Tony Bellew last time out.

Because there are some people who are simply unwilling to ever credit Cleverly, and certainly won’t do so for the fact he took out Tomas Man in 24 seconds on Saturday night.

Some overhand left and rights, a couple of jabs and then a blast to the body to instantly crumple his opponent, and that was all she wrote. Boos rang out around the arena.

Harsh, because if Cleverly had laboured and taken five, six, seven or even eight rounds to beat Man, critics would have jumped all over him.

In the ever political world of boxing where world titles are increasingly available, Cleverly is entering a sink or swim period in his career, set down a specific path of finally facing his long-time target, Juergen Braehmer.

It’s no surprise that Matchroom were cautious in matching Cleverly after his devastating defeat to Bellew, but the fighter shouldn’t be penalised for making mince meat out of him, one big left to the ribs proving enough in an eye-catching 20 seconds, if such a thing exists.

Cleverly instantly targeted a showdown with Braehmer as he targets becoming the first Welshman to win a world title for a second time.

“I got rid of some frustration, I made the weight comfortably and now I want to get back to where I belong. I felt good, sharp, and strong. It was a calculated gamble to go up to cruiserweight,” he said.

“I want to move on to world level and finally get it on with Braehmer.”

Cleverly and Braehmer have history, the German withdrew from a mandatory defence against Cleverly on just three day’s notice, subsequently resulting in the WBO stripping Braehmer and upgrading Cleverly from interim to full champion.

Speaking of their past, Cleverly told Boxingwales.com: “I’d like to think he’ll take the fight this time and I hope he does. He kind of avoided me the first and second time around. We’ve got a lot of history and it would be nice to get him in the ring and see who the best man is.

“I’m hoping he’s up for the fight. He may look at it and see that I’ve slipped a bit because I was undefeated before. He might look at it like that and take encouraging positives.

“I’ve got no animosity towards Braehmer, he’s been a good champion in the past and he’s a good champion at present. I’ve got respect for the guy. He was obviously not in the right place to take me on four years back. Mentally, he probably didn’t feel up to the job. I would be disappointed if he didn’t go through with it this time. As a champion and with our history, we should get this fight on now.”

Since then, Braehmer has signed with Sauerland Event, winning the European title and defending his WBA bauble on four occasions – including stoppage wins over former Team Calzaghe man and world champion Enzo Maccarinelli and Robin Krasniqi, who Cleverly beat in 2013.

“We will talk more with Sauerland, with think the fight is very close,” promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Cardiff-based Nick Blackwell won the British Middleweight title at the third attempt, stopping John Ryder with a sixth round stoppage. Blackwell is trained by Cwmbran’s Gary Lockett, with both fighter and trainer seeing their stock on the rise.