Maths student is boxing clever

Covering all the angles - Nathan Cleverly with his belt outside Cardiff University

Kevin Leonard BBC Wales news website

Nathan Cleverly, from New Tredegar in Caerphilly county, won the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title in October after a gruelling 12-round fight against Portsmouth's Tony Oakey and retained it on Friday when he beat Kenyan Douglas Otieno.

But the 21-year-old is also studying maths and will sit his final exams at Cardiff University next year.

The former Blackwood Comprehensive School pupil, dubbed Nathan "Clever Boy" Cleverly, is coping well with combining his training schedule and the demands of statistics, equations and algebra.

"They are so different. I've got the mental side with the maths and the physical side with the boxing," he said.

"Sometimes it can give me a break from each. It's a good balance.

I'm returning from the boxing ring with cuts and they're returning from the library with books! Nathan Cleverly

"I sacrifice a lot of the nightlife for my training but after the fight I can relax and have a few student nights and catch up."

Despite his 100% professional record of 13 victories, many of his fellow students were unaware of his double life.

"I kept it pretty low key," he said.

"It's only up until this fight really when the cameras started coming into lectures and they all knew then.

"I'm returning from the boxing ring with cuts and they're returning from the library with books!"

Cleverly, who achieved an A grade at A-level maths, said the degree course, particularly the social side, had helped him to cope with the rigours of training up to six days a week.

He admitted his course could be "mind boggling" but his tutors were supportive, giving him permission to take a gap year recently to allow him to concentrate on his boxing.

CLEVERLY FACTS Date of birth: 17 February, 1987 Height: 6ft 2.5in (189cms) Weight: 12st 10lb (80.7kg) Former school: Blackwood Comprehensive Favourite boxers: Oscar de la Hoya and Joe Calzaghe Favourite mathematician: Pythagoras Favourite other sport: Football Favourite football team: Liverpool Favourite pastime: Poker Other sporting honours: Welsh under-15 cross-country champion

"My desire is all in boxing really," he said.

"That's where I see myself after my degree but I've come so far with my maths, it would be a shame to let the last year go.

"It's not the easiest subject to enjoy but you find a way to learn to enjoy it."

He admitted if it was not for boxing, he could have imagined using his degree to get a job perhaps in finance or accounting.

His father Vince, who trains him in Bargoed, and his mother Jackie are both equally as proud of his academic achievements as his boxing success.

And perhaps surprisingly, many people within the boxing world have also advised him to complete his studies.

"People who know the game inside out tell you 'don't let your degree go, don't let your studies go,' " he said.

"People have a lot more respect when they see you doing stuff outside boxing."

But boxing is where Cleverly's ambitions lie and he is, in his own words, "reaching for the sky".

"That's been my ambition since I was a little kid setting foot in the boxing gym," he said.

"I wanted to be the best at something and I chose boxing because it was the field I was best at.

"World champion - that's what I'm setting out to be."

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