Fabio Wardley y Frazer Clarke They had met in March for the British heavyweight title, in a fight that was considered one of the best of the year due to its dramatic and bloody nature, and which ended in a draw. This Saturday the 12th, in Riyadh, the rematch was resolved with lightning speed, in a chilling first round, but this time it was Wardley who unloaded all his violence on Clarke’s humanity, who he ended up with a broken facea fracture in the cheekbone and the need to receive oxygen in the ring after being knocked out.
The fight was the highlight of the preview of the expected main fight in which Artur Beterbiev ended up prevailing on the cards against Dmitry Bivol and established him as the undisputed champion of the middle heavyweight division, for the first time in the four-belt era. If the Russians combined punches and solid defense for 12 rounds, Wardley was a devastating hunt in the direction of Clarke.
The ice was broken by Clarke, with a good double jab with his right hand and forcing Wardley to start moving his feet. The response of the one who would ultimately be the winner was immediate, with an impressive right hand that left his opponent staggering, and then dealt him a hook that decreed the end.
Clarke did not fall to the canvas, he knelt and grabbed the ropes, remaining in an unorthodox position, while the referee Victor Loughlin The count began: it reached 5 but the damage to “Big Fraze”‘s face was a sign that the fight had to be stopped, declaring Wardley the winner by technical KO.
Wardley, 29 years old and with a record of 18 wins and one draw (against Clarke), celebrated his well-deserved victory with euphoria while the defeated received medical attention due to the harsh consequences that the punishment left him: the left area of his face ended up dented, as if it had a hole, the product of what would be a fracture in the cheekbone.
Before leaving the ring and heading to the locker room, Clarke had to receive oxygen to wake up from the dream to which Wardley’s fists took him, born in Ipswich and with a height of 1.96 meters, two centimeters shorter than his rival.
“I always know that once I hurt someone, I’m getting rid of them,” Wardley explained after the fight. He added: “Sometimes you need to use your brain; I took a lot of things from the first fight and used them tonight.”