By Jake Donovan

Nathan Cleverly is in unfamiliar territory heading into his Oct. 16th showdown with Andrzej Fonfara at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The former light heavyweight champion has been in situations where he was viewed as the underdog. He’s also had to travel to his opponent’s hometown on occasion, such as his pair of 12-round fights with UK rival Tony Bellew in Liverpool.

However, the upcoming Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike TV headliner marks the first time that the 28-year old from Wales enters a fight on enemy territory and as the considerable underdog.

Given where he’s presently at in his career, it’s a risk he needs and is willing to take.

“It's a great challenge. But what I'm looking forward to is the challenges of fighting the best fighters,” Cleverly (29-2, 15KOs) mentioned during a recent media conference call to promote his upcoming fight with Fonfara. “If you want to be on the big stage, you have to deal with these circumstances. You have to deal with fighting in your opponent's hometown and these pressures.”

The fight marks just the third trip to the United States for Cleverly, a former light heavyweight champ who briefly took a shot at a cruiserweight run before dropping back down in weight earlier this year following a loss to Bellew in their rematch last November. Fonfara is a fan favorite in the Chicago area, and expects to draw a sizeable crowd for his first home game in nearly a year.

Cleverly hasn’t enjoyed a true home game since a 2nd round knockout win over Shawn Corbin last May in Cardiff, Wales. The fight was his first since his Aug. ’13 knockout loss to Sergey Kovalev – which also took place in Cardiff – to end his 2½ year light heavyweight title reign.

He enters the fight with Fonfara as somewhere in the neighborhood of a 3-2 underdog. Even with the concern of facing the house favorite, the visiting Welshman takes comfort in knowing there will some semblance of balance among the crowd come fight night.

“I have quite a good fan base back home that plan to make the trip to the United States,” Cleverly revealed. “They've supported me for a lot of fights. They know it's a good fight, and a good chance to enjoy the experience in America. It will be very loud in the UIC Pavilion and I'm very excited.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com.

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox

Facebook Page: JakeBScene