Fabio Wardley dismisses Frazer Clarke’s chances of improving

Fabio Wardley believes Frazer Clarke cannot perform any better in their rematch on October 12.

Wardley and Clarke first fought in March and contested a fine battle for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. Their fight was scored a draw, and calls for a rematch started immediately.

Wardley-Clarke II was recently confirmed for the undercard of Artur Beterbiev-Dimitry Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the 29-year-old Wardley, who recently signed for Queensberry Promotions, said: “I think everyone knows what they’re going to get. I think it’s very much going to pick off exactly where we left off from the first fight and carry on through round 13. 

“We’ve watched the fight back – me and the team – over many times. There’s a lot of little adjustments that need to be made – nothing too heavy. I fought a pretty good fight; it wasn’t the best you’ve seen of me but I fought pretty well.”

Although Wardley was happy with his performance, he highlighted areas for improvement. The champion had Clarke hurt on multiple occasions and dropped the challenger in the fifth but was unable to finish him off.

“There’s some small adjustments we can make along the way,” he said. “Overall I was relatively happy with my performance. 

“I almost got him out of there a number of times and got him down, but in certain moments I rushed it. [I need to] take my time when I have him going and kind of pick the shots a bit better. But aside from that, overall I was relatively happy with the performance.” 

Clarke has said that he will be bringing a completely new game plan to the rematch that Wardley will not be able to cope with. Wardley regardless believes that Clarke performed to his maximum in the first contest, and that at the age of 33 he will be unable to improve.

“From performances from me, that was probably a six or seven out of 10,” Wardley said. “That took Frazer to the absolute depths and the absolute best you could find of him. 

“Do I think he’s got much more in the tank? No. I don’t think he’ll have too many new tricks. There’s that saying about old dogs and new tricks – I don’t think he’s got too many more of those in his locker. 

“That fight pushed him to the edge, whereas me – I’m still young and fresh. I’m still learning every fight, and there’s a lot I took from that fight to bring into the next one.”