Nathan Cleverly in Juergen Braehmer world title shot talks

Tony Bellew (R) was able to pin Nathan Cleverly to the ropes in the latter stages of their rematch in Liverpool

Former world champion Nathan Cleverly says he has held talks with WBA light-heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer about a possible fight in September.

The Welshman, 27, considered retiring after losing to cruiserweight Tony Bellew in November, but will return to light-heavyweight to fight an unnamed opponent in Leeds on 11 April.

Cleverly had moved up a division after losing his WBO light-heavyweight title to Sergey Kovalev in 2013.

"I need that world title," he said.

"Provided all goes well on April 11th... we've held talks with Juergen Braehmer. That's the target and if we can pull that off, that'll be terrific.

"It's exciting because the opportunity is there. But it's exciting also because it's very, very achievable for me and it's within my grasp.

"I feel like I can become world champion, so why not take the opportunity while I'm young, while I'm fresh. Let's go out and grab it."

Cleverly's defeat to Bellew (L) was the Welshman's second professional career loss

Promoter Eddie Hearn tweeted on Wednesday to say that "victory [on 11 April] should secure a world title shot in [the] autumn" for Cleverly.

Cleverly will appear on the undercard of a promotion at the First Direct Arena headlined by a WBC world featherweight title eliminator between Josh Warrington and Dennis Tubieron.

"I suppose it won't be a world champion or a world beater, but it will be a decent test to get me back in at the weight," he said.

Cleverly had been due to fight Braehmer in 2011, but it was cancelled after the German suffered an eye injury.

The New Tredegar fighter now hopes for another opportunity against Braehmer, after choosing to step down a weight.

"It was a decision I made quite quickly to be honest after the last fight with Bellew . . . [which] was my first real test at cruiserweight.

"The last six rounds of the fight, I was just sapped of energy. I think it just proved I'm not quite a true cruiserweight.

"I'm glad that I made that jump, just to see where I was at and to find out for myself if I was a cruiserweight or not.

"It answered my question . . . It's time to go back down to light-heavyweight.

"[I'll] go back to basics and do the training which made me world champion."