The unique pressures of fight week can play havoc with the most confident of characters.
The endless questions, the behind-the-scenes games and good old-fashioned nerves can derail the most perfect of preparations.
But as his eagerly awaited heavyweight rematch with Frazer Clarke got closer, Fabio Wardley became more rational and increasingly self-assured.
Some believed that Clarke’s long amateur pedigree would make him the more adaptable of the two. Others thought Wardley had more room to grow.
Almost everybody assumed that, for as long as it lasted, the fight would be as competitive and hard-fought as the grueling draw the pair shared back in February.
Almost everybody.
In public, Wardley let it be known that he was prepared for another war, but in private, the possibility of a quick finish began to loom larger and larger.
Wardley, 18-0-1 (17 KOs), took out Clarke in brutal fashion within the opening round. The result wasn’t down to a dramatic change in tactics but a deeper understanding of what happened the first time around.
“One hundred per cent,” Wardley told TalkSport. “It’s funny, because as the week drew closer and through fight week, every night me and the team will sit down. We’ll either watch the fight or watch clips that we’ve put together of certain moments in the fight and rehearse them and go through them and go through situations and scenarios, how things plan out and how to do them better.
“The more and more I watched it, there was way more times in the first fight that I hurt him and I didn’t actually realize.
“I didn’t really pay attention. I wasn’t present enough in the moment.
“I think I was very overeager in the first fight. I got sucked into the event, the occasion of it all, very much so. I just went gung-ho in everything I did.
“Once I really realized, ‘OK, I hurt him here, I hurt him here, and I hurt him here,’ that box is basically ticked. I know I can damage him in a variety of ways, in a variety of areas – it’s just about now when the finish comes, being composed enough to just vary it up slightly, disguise some things slightly and then get the finish.
“But whether that was to come in the first, second, third, 10th, who knows? But I knew once it came, I was going to be better prepared.”
Wardley had been a growing presence on the U.K. domestic scene for a couple of years, but the right hand that did so much damage to Clarke made him an international figure. He was almost immediately elevated into Ring magazine’s top 10 heavyweights, and fans began throwing out potential crowd-pleasing matchups.
Wardley’s next step might just be his most important. Beating an Olympic bronze medalist in such alarming fashion has made him one of the hottest properties in a busy division, but his handlers need to guard against it making them too ambitious, too quickly. Clarke is a popular character and more than played his part in that thrilling first fight, but he was also totally untested at world level.
In the past, Wardley would have been wrapped in cotton wool and guided smartly towards a title shot. Saudi Arabia’s arrival in the sport has changed the established order of things. But while the 29-year-old isn’t the type to tread water, he is also a sharp operator who understands the position he has put himself in.
By committing his future to Queensberry Promotions, Wardley has ensured that he will remain a major part in the heavyweight division for some time to come, and he is more than ready to begin mixing with the long, attractive list of fighters who are desperate for a seat at the division’s very top table.
“Ultimately, the decision [on who I fight] always has done and always will lie with me,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on being very much in full control of my career and not having anyone tell me how, or which way, or how I do anything, or who I fight and when I fight them.
“I’ve also never really said no to anyone, so it’s not been an issue. But there has been certain points where we needed to build through, and there’s building blocks and certain things I need to tick off.
“I think – I said this ringside in interviews – I’ve ticked off everything now. In terms of rounds, taking a shot, landing a shot, getting people out of there. Doing all the kind of little boxing milestones you would say that you need to tick off before you enter that world scene, I think I’ve done.
“So those fringe-level contenders, I think I’m shoulder to shoulder with them.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79
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