By Ben Palmer
WHAT do you get when you cross two Englishmen fighting for the British heavyweight title? In the case of Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke, the answer, it turns out, is a dust-up in Saudi Arabia.
So often in boxing, we’re subjected to unwarranted, turgid rematches: the commercial interests of a few supersedes those of the wider boxing fraternity. But with Wardley-Clarke II, this unfinished business deserves a sequel.
Just over six months after their first meeting at the O2 arena, the pair will square off once more for the coveted British and Commonwealth heavyweight straps. In their highly anticipated first meeting, both men had their hand raised as they slugged out an exhilarating draw.
The contest was billed from the outset as raw exuberance meets wily pedigree. After just four white-collar fights, Fabio Wardley entered the professional ranks in 2017, winning the English, British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in seventeen bouts.
In stark contrast, Frazer Clarke’s amateur schooling is not to be sniffed at: he served a period of almost three complete Olympic cycles before claiming bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
There were sundry questions to be answered as they stepped through the ropes in March. How would Clarke cope with a 12-round affair? Would Wardley’s inexperience be exposed by the amateur acumen of his foe? Who could rise to the occasion, and who would succumb to it?
After 36 minutes of punishing pugilism, we were left with even more questions to contemplate. Clarke found himself on the canvas in the fifth round of a bout that was both absorbing and tightly contested in equal measure. It would’ve felt unjust to see either man walk away empty-handed in defeat, although Clarke looked the more despondent. Understandably so, as a draw saw the belts remain with Wardley in Suffolk.
What we did learn, though, is that both can, and will, walk through the fire. Neither had shown signs to the contrary before, but now we know that when the going gets tough over 12 rounds, these tough men get going.
Once the final bell sounded, the act was up. Clarke could finally surrender to the affliction bestowed upon him, collapsing into the ropes before slumping to the canvas. Across the ring, Wardley’s face spoke a thousand words: a blank canvas less than an hour earlier, it was now decorated red.
Round 13 awaits. What remains to be seen is what both men took from the first fight. And, perhaps more critically, what did it take from them?
