IN THE mind of Frazer Clarke, he has fought just once professionally.
Obviously, his fight record says different. The 33-year-old made his debut in February 2019 and has fought nine times in total so far. But for those first eight Clarke never looked like a man completely satisfied with himself.
Beating regular workhorses like Ariel Esteban Bracamonte, Kamil Sokolowski, and Mariusz Wach is part of an up-and-coming heavyweight boxer’s education. Clarke was already well-schooled, however, with an extensive amateur pedigree that saw him win medals at national and European levels, as well as Commonwealth gold and Olympic bronze.
Seven months ago, Clarke finally arrived on the pro scene when he challenged Fabio Wardley for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. What played out at the O2 Arena was 12 rounds of violence, blood, brutality, and heart that produced an edge-of-the-seat thriller that, come the end of the year, will be in the running for fight of the year.
“The first eight fights, I don’t really class them as fights, because I feel like they were a canter,” Clarke told Boxing News
“I feel like I could have won them fights in any order. I really do. I’m dead honest, I wasn’t super impressed with myself in some of them fights. I feel like I’ve had one professional fight and that’s with Fabio Wardley.”
“You have to learn the game a little bit,” he continued. “It’s a little bit different to what you think it is. What it says on the tin and what it is, professional boxing, is two different things. And I don’t like using the term ‘journeyman’, because all these men that you go [in] with, they’re really tough and they might not be able to win, but they want to give a good account of themselves, because they want to get paid again, so they’re not always easy to beat and knock over.”
Clarke showed a little bit of everything back in March against Wardley, but the result—a split draw—disappointed the boxer from Burton-on-Trent. Despite his age and experience, Clarke showed some naivety against Wardley, finding himself on the canvas and having a point deducted for low blows.
On Saturday night, Wardley and Clarke will do it all again in a rematch for the British title, which takes place in Riyadh on the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undercard. In the first fight, Clarke gave glimpses of his boxing abilities but chose to fight fire with fire against an aggressive Wardley who didn’t want Clarke to have time to breathe, let alone think.
Clarke (R) believes he did enough to beat Wardley back in March. (James Chance/Getty Images)
“It gets mentioned a lot,” Clarke says of the first fight.
“I can’t really go anywhere without it being mentioned. I know how good of fight it was, but for me, it was a bitterly disappointing night.
“I wanted the titles, I didn’t go away with them. You do think about it a lot because he [Wardley] spoke about it a lot, but make no mistake about it, that was not the result I wanted at all. I thought I just did enough to nick the fight. It was sad for a while, but then you go into certain places and there’s people that aren’t even boxing fans telling me how good the fight was.”
“It must have had an impact,” he added. “In such a sport like this, if you’re able to impact others through what you’re doing, through that kind of fight, then it’s quite impressive and I’m quite lucky to be in a fight like that.”
Disappointment turned to pride, then, for Clarke. There will be even more to carry if the second fight picks up from where the first finished. Clarke knows it could go that way and told BN, “It could catch fire quick.”
However, what is often an overriding thought after a fight which featured herculean efforts from both is how much that took out of them. All the greatest fights, regardless of weight class, leave the phrase, ‘They left a part of themselves in the ring’ hanging over the fighters. And at heavyweight, where the men are bigger and hit much, much harder, the pain and damage are unthinkable and may not show itself until later on in life.
Clarke partly agrees that something of himself may still be in the O2 Arena, but this is what he and every other boxer signed up for.
“We’re probably a little bit naïve,” Clarke said.
“But I don’t look as far as tomorrow,” he then adds.
“I take it one fight at a time. I try to protect myself as best as I can, look after my health as best as I can. I’m fit, I enjoy the fighting. People say it took a lot out of me, of course it did on the night and a few days after.
“But I’m like a racehorse, I’m in the prime of my life, I’m good to go again.”
While he is ready to go back in with Wardley once more surely the Olympic medallist and his team are thinking about trying to beat the champion with brains and not brawn.
“Everyone can talk a good game, but it’s all about fight night,” he said.
“It’s about getting it right on the night, that’s what matters. I think everything I’ve done in the camp – the up days, the down days, the good days in the camp, the bad days – will all come to fruition come fight night.
“We can only wait and see, but I predict a clinical and dominant performance from myself.”
