After his man Frazer Clarke was quite brutally knocked out by Fabio Wardley in their return fight this past Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, promoter Ben Shalom gave an interview with BetFred, in which he stated how there are concerns over the gloves Wardley wore and how the custom made gloves will be “looked at.”
As fans who saw the knockout know, Clarke was wiped out in a round, and he was left with a visible dent in his head, which was the result of a damaged jaw and cheekbone. Now, Shalom has said that, although he is not accusing Wardley or his team of any wrongdoing, the gloves will have to be examined.
Here’s what Shalom said about the Fly gloves Wardley wore:
“Yes, it’s something we’re looking very carefully at with our team. Not just for big Fraze’s sake, but the fact that these customised gloves are being introduced, you have to look into it and see how they’re different,” Shalom said. “It’s an ongoing process, but during the week we were warned repeatedly by Frazer’s team about what gloves could be used. It’s no excuse, Frazer lost the fight fair and square, but it’s the damage that they could cause and that’ll have to be looked at. And the doctor said to me, ‘There is no way in hell any boxing glove should be able to have that level of damage.’”
Now, Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, has fired back at any suggestion from Shalom that there was anything untoward about his fighter’s gloves. Speaking with Talk Sport, Warren called Shalom an “idiot,” and he said that what Shalom has said is “libelous.”
“First of all, I am the promoter of that event. It was a British Boxing Board of Control event. It was me, the licensed promoter. So what he’s saying is that the gloves were not correct. That’s what he’s alleging. And that is libelous,” Warren said. “The manufacturers of the gloves, I’m sure they’re going to take that up with him. What he’s saying is totally out of order and wrong. And as to say it’s an investigation, you have heard what the Board of Control said. How is he investigating anything? He doesn’t even have the gloves. I mean, what is he, Clouseau? Does he think he’s Inspector Clouseau? Or, in his case, Inspector Clueless? It’s a poor excuse for what was a legitimate win.”
Warren also pointed out that Wardley wore the same gloves in his previous fight and that Adam Azim, who will fight on a Shalom card tomorrow night, wears Fly gloves himself. It does seem at this time as though Shalom has no case whatsoever. This whole story – or non-story, if you prefer – will likely blow away very soon. Wardley won the fight, and he won it in devastating fashion. Until Shalom or anyone else can prove with hard evidence that there was something wrong with Wardley’s gloves, this is indeed a non-starter. Shalom should not have said what he said in that interview, and now he could face legal action. Warren also stated how Shalom could now find himself in trouble with the BBB of C for his, shall we say, leading choice of words.
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