Clottey, the most feared welterweight in the world, fights Cruz tonight on Versus!

Tonight at the Aviator Sports Arena in Brooklyn, New York, IBF number one welterweight contender Joshua Clottey will defending his mandatory spot against Jose Luis Cruz in a welterweight fight scheduled for 12 rounds.

Since dropping a close disputed twelve decision to then WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito in Atlantic City in December of 2006, Clottey has amassed a string of notable wins. In April of 2007, he defeated the late and great Diego Corrales by a 10 round unanimous decision. Clottey has also beaten Felix Flores and earned the number one spot he currently holds in the IBF by defeating Shamone Alavarez over the course of the twelve rounds in his last outing this past December. You may recall seeing Cruz before against Sugar Shane Mosley in September of 2005, dropping a unanimous decision against the former three division champion on the undercard of Marco Antonio Barrera's super featherweight title fight with Robbie Peden.

This appears to be a stay-busy fight for Clottey, as he continues to push to get his mandatory title shot enforced against the reigning title holder Kermit Cintron. There were talks earlier this year of staging a unification fight between Cintron and WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. Cotto's promoter Bob Arum, who also promotes Clottey, refused to make that match due to the fact that Clottey is the mandatory challenger in the IBF and Cintron must first face Clottey.

So what happened shortly there after? Arum chose to match Cotto with - get ready - Season one Contender Alfonso Gomez! On the the undercard as part of a welterweight twinbill, Cintron will defend his title, but not against his mandatory challenger Clottey! Cintron will instead defend against Margarito, who remains the only fighter who has beaten him as professional. Hence, a stay busy fight tonight for the frustrated Clottey who is desperately trying to get that mandatory enforced.

Cruz is a pretty durable guy, so look for Clottey to get some rounds in and probably cruz to a unanimous decision. The fight will be televised tonight on Versus, starting at 9pm E/T.