As fans know, British heavyweight rivals Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke, who fought a great and punishing fight back in March, will do it again on October 12, this on the big Riyadh card topped by Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol. And Wardley says he aims to score a “clean” KO over Clarke this time, with him using the win to break into the “upper echelon” of the division.
Wardley, who lost a good deal of blood as he slugged his way to a 12-round draw with Clarke, which saw him keep hold of the British title, says the heavyweight division is going through a “massive changing of the guard” now due to some top-ranked fighters losing. Wardley says a statement win over Clarke will announce his arrival as “the next one in question.”
“The landscape, it’s definitely in a massive changing of the guard right now, with Fury losing, with AJ losing, Wilder losing, Joyce losing, Chisora obviously winning but we know that he’s only got a couple left, so you don’t really throw him in that mix, Jared Anderson even losing,” Wardley told Sky Sports. “A lot of the people that were at the top, or you would have said were next up, have picked up losses on the way. One-thousand percent, I’m in the mix. I’m one fight away from being in that top echelon. Clean out Frazer and then I’m in that mix, I’m the next one in question.”
Wardley, who is currently ranked in the top 10 by the governing bodies, will indeed be in a good place if he can KO Clarke. Wardley, 17-0-1(16) would rise even higher in the rankings no doubt, and maybe a big fight with one of the top 10 guys, say a Martin Bakole, a Joseph Parker, an Agit Kabayel, or someone else would come for him. But first, Wardley has to beat Clarke, 8-0-1(6), and not everyone thinks he will do so.
It was a tough fight for both men on March 31st, and “Big Fraze” feels it will be he who improves on his showing in the first fight and that it will be he who gets the stoppage win this time. Really, this is a great under-card fight, a fight that stood alone here in the UK and would have done so again had the rematch taken place on these shores.
The massive, for-all-the-belts light-heavyweight clash will take some beating, action, drama, and tension, but Wardley-Clarke II could prove to be the most fun fight of the night a week on Saturday.
Who do YOU like in the rematch, Wardley or Clarke? Will there be a winner this time around?
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