By Mark Baldwin
I’VE STILL not watched it back. I don’t want my memories watered down of what I described at the time as the greatest fight I have ever covered from ringside. It’s the closest I’ve come to having that time-honoured tradition for a wannabe scribe of being covered in a fighter’s blood as the crimson splattered profusely from the battered nose of one of the two incredibly brave heavyweights who had given a little too much of themselves for our entertainment.
Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke left a piece of themselves in that London ring. The O2 Arena has seen many a great fight. That was up there with the best of them.
I wondered if they would run it back. I wondered if they should. Could it possibly be anywhere near the standards of what we saw in March? Does that even matter? I wondered if their bodies would appreciate a different route. A safer passage that wouldn’t quite be so detrimental to career longevity.
But this weekend, they will indeed do it all again. They are prizefighters, after all. That’s what they do. Pride wouldn’t let them walk away without one of them having their hand raised in victory.
Wardley and Clarke will be significantly rewarded for their efforts on Saturday night. A supporting role in the latest Riyadh Season extravaganza. The Kingdom Arena this time will host the rematch. Mixed feelings for this old hack. An old-fashioned viewpoint that wanted it back in the UK again, and with headline billing. A big domestic heavyweight showdown with domestic titles on the line should be on UK soil. But I get why it isn’t. Money talks. And in a deafening tone.
Wardley and Clarke deserve every single penny they will earn on Saturday night. They most definitely will earn it. Fighters quite rightly go where the money is. Maybe the rematch isn’t just about the money.
Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke go to war at The O2 Arena on March 31, 2024 in London, England (James Chance/Getty Images)
The battle for personal supremacy is probably the overriding reason why they must go through it all again. It might make sound business sense. But they also have unfinished business. Honours even last time. Fighters need that peace of mind. It was perhaps always inevitable that we would see it again.
Both fighters can be better the second time around. Both will believe that they will be better. But will their minds and bodies allow them to give as much? Will thoughts of what they went through last time render the second meeting a pale imitation of what came before? Can their bodies even give what they gave before? I have my doubts.
Wardley, despite everything he has achieved since he turned professional over seven years ago, still can’t seem to shake off that white-collar label. Clarke, the Olympian that has underwhelmed in many of his professional contests to date. The limited opposition in truth did him no favours. Clarke just needed someone to test him.
In Wardley, he found what he needed. Both still have points to prove. Maybe more to themselves. They proved plenty in their incredible first meeting. A fight that served a mutual purpose. In simple terms, they probably just needed each other. In many ways, they still do.
Wardley is the slight betting favourite. Clarke, yet again, his Olympic pedigree seemingly forgotten. As are those moments from the first fight when he seemed only a punch or two away from a certain victory. Wardley was defiant. Beyond so. Both left that London ring with regrets. This time, I believe we will see more of the same. But a shortened version. Albeit with all the brutality and ferocity still very much intact.
The judges couldn’t split them last time. This time, I don’t think they will be needed. One of them will break, and we will get a definitive conclusion. Both will then go their separate ways. In time, they will be thankful for what they gave each other.
