Nathan Cleverly wants to unify the belts in his light-heavyweight division after defending his WBO title for the first time on Saturday.

After the anti-climatic first defence of his belt at the O2 Arena, the 24-year-old is eager to set up to some more high-profile contests.

Cleverly had been due to face WBO champion Juergen Braehmer, who was stripped of his title when he pulled out of the bout at the last minute.

Cleverly was awarded the vacant title and a defence against Tony Bellew was organised but the Liverpudlian failed to make the weight so the fight was hastily rearranged.

Cleverly eventually successfully defended his title with a fourth round stoppage of Aleksy Kuziemski - his third potential opponent in as many days.

History

Now the Welshman has his sights set on big names such as Bernard Hopkins, who made history on Saturday when he beat Jean Pascal for the WBC title.

At 46 Hopkins became the oldest fighter ever to lift a world title with his points defeat of Pascal, who is 18 years his junior, eclipsing former record holder George Foreman by six months.

And Cleverly, who has always been compared with his former sparring partner and mentor with Joe Calzaghe, believes he has earned a crack at the big time.

“I’ll fight whoever, whatever is out there for me,” he said. “There are some big names on my radar. I’ve spoken with Frank and we’ve mentioned one or two defences.

“Bernard Hopkins (WBC champion), Jean Pascal, Tavoris Cloud (IBF champion) is another big American name.

Big fights

“They are the fights I want to be involved in. I’m prepared to fight. Let’s get the big fights on!

“I think Joe always felt I was going to take over his mantle from a young age.

“I sparred thousands of rounds with Joe helping him prepare for his big fights against the likes of Mikkel Kessler and Bernard Hopkins and he always backed me and said I was something special and that I’d go on to take over from him.

“He’s kept in touch, he’s a good friend. I spoke to him this week and he just said ‘knock this guy’s head off!”‘.