Rodney Berman slams Martin Murray and Nathan Cleverly

[Mofo2]

AFTER 36 years at the helm of Golden Gloves, South Africa’s most successful promotional company and the maker of 50 world champions, 71-year-old Johannesburg native Rodney Berman has found himself dealing with the less satisfying aspects of professional boxing in the early weeks of 2014.

Former WBO light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly was due to face one of Berman’s fighters, llunga ‘Junior’ Makabu, on his cruiserweight debut in a 10-round affair on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin’s IBO and WBA middleweight title defence in Monaco. But after injuring himself and aborting his scheduled ring return in November, the Welshman was again declared unfit to fight on February 1 and withdrew from the Makabu fight, much to the frustration and annoyance of the veteran promoter. Martin Murray - set to take on Jarrod Fletcher on the same bill - also withdrew citing injury.

Berman told Boxing News he firmly believes neither Cleverly nor Murray's injuries were genuine, in a damning assessment of two of British boxing’s most talented fighters.

“I never expected Cleverly to pull out of the fight because negotiations were conducted by my agent and Frank Warren. One of the conditions set out by Frank Warren being that BoxNation have the UK rights to the very eagerly awaited Monte Carlo Boxing Bonanza.

“Cleverly would not have gone three rounds against Makabu, and in retrospect it was probably the best decision he ever made. When a fighter uses the alibi of injury, the correct malaise is 'running scared'.