By Charles Brun: Undefeated British heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley (15-0, 14 KOs) has been ordered to make a defense against unbeaten 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Frazer Clarke (6-0, 5 KOs) next. The two have until September to get this fight done.
This fight is a toss-up, as both guys are flawed in skills but can punch a little bit, but are very, very easy to hit.
Although Clarke, 31, is extremely slow, he has power, which gives him an excellent chance of winning if he can land his shots on Wardley. As we saw in Wardley’s fight with Eric Molina, he doesn’t take shots well.
What could play a factor is if Wardley starts throwing rabbit punches as he did against Molina. If Wardley can land his rabbit shots, Clarke might not last long. Provided Wardley keeps it clean, Clarke has got a chance of winning.
“The Stewards decided to put out the above contest to purse bids to be submitted in accordance with the terms and conditions to the Board’s Head Office by 12:00noon on Wednesday, 10th May 2023, the contest to take place by the end of September 2023,” per BBBofC.
Wardley didn’t look good in his fight with Nathan Gorman with the way he was standing perfectly still in front of him, as if begging to be nailed by shots.
Gorman obliged Warrely, nailing him with everything but the kitchen sink through three rounds.
Had Gorman not gassed out, he probably would have won because he was nailing with shots that would have knocked out a dinosaur, but he didn’t have the gas tank to continue hitting him at will. Clarke has better stamina than Gorman, and he hits harder, which gives him a good shot at winning if he can take return fire.
The six-year pro Wardley has a slight advantage in experience over Clarke, as he’s beaten Michael Coffie, Nathan Gorman, Eric Molina, and Nick Webb.
Clarke has the better amateur pedigree, which more than evens out the experience advantage that the 28-year-old Wardley has over him in the pro ranks. Clarke’s best win in the pro ranks came against the capable Bogdan Dinu last March.
The BBBofC has ordered Wardley (15-0, 14 KOs) to defend against Clarke (6-0, 5 KOs). It’s a clash that British fans will be excited about, but it means nothing regarding upper-level boxing.
Both guys are getting long in the tooth to be fighting lower level, and you got to wonder if the two have decided this is as good as it gets career-wise or if they lack ambition. You’d like to see Wardley and Clarke aiming higher than the domestic level.
What they should be doing is targeting world-level competition instead of tending their garden at the domestic level, spinning their wheels, and going nowhere. Wardley and Clarke should be aspiring for bigger things by going after these upper-tier heavyweights:
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Martin Bakole
- Luis Ortiz
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Otto Wallin
- Jared Anderson
- Murat Gassiev
