CEFN Fforest fighter Nathan Cleverly could join St Joseph’s ace Lee Selby in challenging for a world title this year as promoter Eddie Hearn aims to put Welsh boxing back on track.

Cleverly lost his WBO world light-heavyweight belt in brutal fashion to Sergey Kovalev in August 2013 and was also beaten in a rematch with bitter rival Tony Bellew at cruiserweight in November 2014.

But Hearn says he has already entered negotiations for Cleverly to drop back down to light-heavyweight and challenge for a world title once again in 2015.

“I’ve spoken to Nathan numerous times since the fight, more than I’ve spoken to Bellew,” said the Matchroom Boxing chief, who was in Las Vegas with Cleverly last month for the Amir Khan fight.

“I said before the fight that the winner will go on to fight for a world title and probably the loser would too.

“I was in Vegas with Nathan and it looks like I’ve landed him a world title fight as well.

“I will bring him back at light-heavyweight and he will fight for a world title before the end of the year, probably in September. It’s virtually already done.”

Cleverly is likely to return to the ring in March or April on the same Cardiff bill that should see Selby take on Russian Evgeny Gradovich for his IBF featherweight world title.

“Selby is the star down there [in Wales] at the moment and we’re trying to get Gradovich over for that fight,” added Hearn.

“We’ve already made an offer and if we have to we’ll increase that offer and that will be in Wales.

“I’ve still got plans for Welsh boxing. Nathan will be ready for his next fight in March or April so that could tie in with the Selby world title fight.”

Meanwhile, Hearn has admitted that the much-anticipated Bellew-Cleverly rematch, which Bellew won via a split decision, did not live up to expectations.

“The numbers on the pay-per-view were huge but unfortunately the main event let us down,” he said.

“I don’t want to blame it on the fighters but it was built up to be a great fight and everyone believed it was going to be a great fight. It wasn’t.

“It was an average fight. The main event didn’t deliver. It wasn’t good enough.

“We put on a fight that everyone wanted to see but it wasn’t a great fight so I have to take the stick.

“I’m sorry that it didn’t live up to the expectations of pretty much everyone.”