Frazer Clarke to undergo surgery after brutal first round knockout defeat by Fabio Wardley
Clarke, 33, was taken to hospital afterwards and scans showed a broken jaw which caused a dent in the side of his head which came up in pictures after the fight
by Chris McKenna · The MirrorFrazer Clarke will need surgery on a broken jaw after his brutal defeat by Fabio Wardley on Saturday night.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist was knocked out in the first round after a sickening succession of right hands landed. Clarke, 33, was taken to hospital afterwards and scans showed a broken jaw which caused a dent in the side of his head which came up in pictures after the fight.
The Burton boxer and his team were yesterday weighing up whether to undergo the operation in Saudi before flying home. Wardley, 29, defended his British heavyweight title in conclusive fashion after the pair’s thrilling draw last March.
Now the Ipswich fighter is looking ahead to world honours and wouldn’t rule out facing friend Johnny Fisher next February.
There is speculation that there will be another Queensberry against Matchroom card early next year.
Wardley told IFLTV: “That’s a rough one for me because it is obviously going to be QP versus Matchroom and their only heavyweight would be Johnny Fisher.
“He’s a good friend of mine, he wished me all the best for this fight. It would be a sticky one, it’s business at the end of the day. If the phone rings, it rings.
“There’s no particular names I want. There's people moving on the same trajectory as me. The aim is world titles, we know the belts will get split up at the end of the year after the Fury and Usyk fight. I need to position myself right and make sure I’m ticking the right boxes.”
Ben Whittaker ended up in hospital with Boxxer stablemate and fellow Tokyo medallist Clarke after a bizarre ending to his clash with Liam Cameron.
The West Midlands boxer suffered an ankle injury when both boxers tumbled over the top rope at the end of the fifth round and he couldn’t continue so the bout went to the scorecards early and it was ruled a draw.
Brit Jack Massey was pulled out by trainer Joe Gallagher in the sixth round of his clash with IBF cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia.
While Raven Chapman’s bid to dethrone WBC women’s featherweight champion Skye Nicolson failed after she was comfortably outpointed.
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