More previews for Saturday big Echo Arena show from Dave Oakes.  Check out Dave's previews for the rest of the show: DeGale vs Smith & Bellew vs McKenzie

Cleverly vs Mohammedi

Nathan Cleverly takes on late replacement Nadjib Mohammedi for the interim WBO light-heavyweight title. Cleverly was originally supposed to fight Alejandro Lakatos but the Spaniard pulled out due to pneumonia.

Mohammedi, 23-1 (12 KO’s), has taken the fight on just two days notice but is said to be in good shape. He’s a come forward fighter, although doesn’t throw a huge number of punches. He normally looks to force mistakes from his opponent before countering them.

The only defeat on his record came in the Grand Tournoi (a similar event to the Super Six) against Thierry Karl. The much taller Karl, whose defence isn’t the best to say the least, was an easy target, but Mohammedi struggled to get into range and was knocked out in the first round – being dropped by way of a quick straight right to the temple. The punch didn’t look to have much behind it but it robbed Mohammedi of his senses, the referee waving the fight over after Mohammedi struggled to his feet looking disorientated.

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Dave Oakes continues his look at Saturday's big Echo Arena "Return of the Magnificent Seven" show.  Check out Dave's previews for the rest of the show: DeGale vs Smith & Cleverly vs Mohammedi - Macklin vs Veron - Brook vs Kotey

A potential show stealer sees Tony Bellew defend his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title against former champion Ovill McKenzie.

Bellew, 14-0 (9 KO’s), by his own admission, was appalling last time out against Bob Ajisafe. He suffered a flash knockdown in the fourth round after walking onto a hard left from Ajisafe and never really found his rhythm thereon after, the fight descending into an untidy affair in which neither combatant could gain control.

McKenzie, 18-9 (7 KO’s), also had trouble with Ajisafe, losing on points after struggling to work out the tall southpaw’s awkward style. McKenzie was in the ‘opponent’ category in the early part of his career, that changed in 2005 when he strung together an eight fight unbeaten streak which culminated in him winning the Commonwealth title – stopping Peter Haymer in the second round.

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Dave Oakes previews Saturday's Super-Middleweight clash between Paul Smith and James DeGale.  Check out Dave's previews for the rest of the show: Bellew vs McKenzie & Cleverly vs Mohammedi - Macklin vs Veron - Brook vs Kotey

The headline fight for the British leg of the Saturday’s GR8 Britain versus The World PPV show sees Paul Smith defending his British super-middleweight against the unbeaten James DeGale.

This will be Smith’s second defence of the title he won just over a year ago against local rival Tony Quigley, and it should also be the hardest fight of his career - the same applies to DeGale, who’s taking a big step-up in class.

Olympic gold medallist DeGale has had everything is own way thus far in his short career. Carl Dilks was expected to test him last time out but DeGale blew him away inside a round, the affable Scouser being unable to cope with DeGale’s speed and accuracy.

DeGale, 8-0 (6 KO’s), has adapted well to the paid ranks, something many people doubted he would be able to do, and is looking like a potential world champion. His speed is his main attribute but he’s shown decent punch power as well, which was especially noticeable in the way he took out Sam Horton in May this year.

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Dave Oakes previews this Saturday's super-featherweight clash between Ricky Burns and Andreas Evensen.

Ricky Burns makes the first defence of his WBO super-featherweight title this Saturday night when he takes on Andreas Evensen at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow.

Burns, 29-2 (7 KO’s) upset the odds in September when he recovered from a first round knockdown to dethrone Roman Martinez. It looked like an impossible task for the Coatbridge fighter after the knockdown but the way he dug in and recovered his composure before coming back to out box Martinez for the majority of the fight, whilst surviving a few rocky patches, was mightily impressive.

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Andrew Harrison previews Saturday night's British Lightweight title clash between Gavin Rees and John Watson.  For more from Andrew, make sure to check out his blog: Safe Side of the Ropes.

Liverpool lightweight John Watson takes a leap of faith on Saturday evening when, after a mere thirteen contests, he shoots for the vacant British crown against the vastly more experienced Welshman, Gavin Rees. Opportunity knocked for the pair last month after John Murray called time on his domestic reign in order to pursue world honours, leaving a Lonsdale belt up for grabs in the process.

Rees (known as "The Rock") once held Amir Khan’s light welterweight alphabet title throughout a short-lived, eight month tenure, one bookended with a surprise victory over Frenchman Souleymane M’baye and a tough beatdown at the hands of the underrated Ukrainian, Andriy Kotelnik.

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Dave Oakes previews Saturday night's Sky Sports show featuring Sam Webb vs Martin Concepcion and Jamie Arthur vs Kris Hughes.

Winning a title is hard but sometimes defending can be even harder, complacency can set in with the champion believing he’s got the divine right to win all of his fights from there on in.

Sam Webb is certain that won’t be the case on Saturday night when he defends his British light-middleweight title for the first time against Martin Concepcion. He’s said that he’s in great shape and has trained as if he was the challenger rather than the champ. That's the right attitude to have and one that will serve him well.

Webb, 16-1 (4 KO’s), took his time and steadily worked his way to British level. He was guilty of being overeager early in his career – I can remember him being touted as a Ricky Hatton style fighter – but has developed into a well schooled and somewhat underrated boxer.

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Dave Oakes previews Saturday's European 130lb title clash between Leva Kirakosyan and Stephen Foster.

Stephen Foster Jnr, 27-2-1 (KO17), finally gets the chance he’s been waiting for this Saturday night when he takes on Leva Kirakosyan for the Armenian’s European super-featherweight title.

Big things were expected of Foster when he turned pro in 2001; he’d had a good amateur career and was already a recognisable name around the boxing scene, which was also partly due to his father’s exploits.

I think it’s fair to say his career hasn’t gone the way he’d have wished. He was making steady progress until being defeated by Derry Matthews late in 2006, losing on points after a lacklustre performance – the result of trouble making the featherweight limit.

He regrouped after the defeat, moved up in weight and found himself challenging for the WBO interim title against Alex Arthur just three fights later. Whilst he lost via a close points decision, Foster produced an impressive performance and was expected to build on it.

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Andrew Harrison previews Saturday night's European Lightweight title clash between John Murray and Andrei Kudriavtsev.  For more from Andrew, make sure to check out his blog, Safe Side of the Ropes.

Manchester action man John Murray returns to the ring on Saturday evening looking to take care of one last spot of business on the European circuit before taking aim at the world’s best lightweights. The opponent, veteran Andrei Kudriavtsev, is a well schooled technician from the former Eastern Bloc, a two time national champion and a home bird by nature.

After inauspicious beginnings which returned five defeats from his initial nine outings as a novice, Kudriavtsev went unbeaten through five years and twenty contests, a run which carried him to a showdown against the unbeaten Paulus Moses. Despite an admirable showing, Moses (who would later grab an alphabet belt) proved to be a bridge too far and halted Kudriavtsev in nine, yet it took an extremely determined shift from the Namibian to derail the man from the Kerch Peninsula.

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