Here is all you need to know ahead of Sunday’s all-British heavyweight title fight between Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley, live on Sky Sports.
When, where and how?
Heavyweight duo Clarke and Wardley will meet for the British and Commonwealth titles at the O2 Arena in London on March 31, with Easter Sunday set to play stage to a bumper card. Viewers can tune in from 6pm on Sky Sports Action and from 7pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
The action continues a stacked day of sport live on Sky, following on from Liverpool against Brighton and Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal on a potentially defining day for the Premier League title race.
A weekend of boxing begins on Friday night when Seniesa Estrada fights Yokasta Valle for the undisputed world minimumweight title before Oscar Valdez takes on Liam Wilson in Arizona, live on Sky from 1am in the early hours of Saturday.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What do I need to know about the fighters?
Clarke’s professional career stems from a highly-decorated amateur background in which he won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The former Team GB fighter also previously won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with victory over Satish Kumar the final in Australia, as well as a silver medal at the 2017 European Championships.
The 32-year-old turned professional in 2021 and has since amassed an unbeaten record, his most recent win seeing him force Dave Allen into a sixth-round retirement last September.
Wardley, in contrast, does not come from an amateur background and had just four white-collar fights before entering the professional game in 2017. The Ipswich man has previously stopped the likes of Eric Molina and Nathan Gorman, and is now coming off a career-best seventh-round stoppage win over David Adeleye in Saudi Arabia last October.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Frazer Clarke’s professional record
- Age: 32
- Height: 6ft 6in
- Total fights: 8
- Record: 8-0 (6 KOs)
Fabio Wardley’s professional record
- Age: 29
- Height: 6ft 5in
- Total fights: 17
- Record: 17-0 (16 KOs)
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Where does the rivalry come from?
Clarke and Wardley have been embroiled in a back-and-forth for the best part of a year since an initial fight between the pair failed to materialise when Clarke did not participate in a mandated purse bid in 2023 for the British title.
Wardley has since accused his opponent of ‘ducking’ him, while Clarke has maintained that the decision had been taken out of his hands as he turned his attention towards gaining experience in 10-round contests against Mariusz Wach and Allen.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Who is on the undercard?
Ben Whittaker makes his highly-anticipated return to action on the back of his viral showboating performance during February’s clinical stoppage victory over Khalid Graidia.
The Olympic silver medallist (6-0, 5 KOs) will hope to continue his rise against Cheshire’s Leon Willings (7-1, 2 KOs) as he looks to take another step forward as one of British boxing’s most exciting and explosive young stars.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Callum Simpson (13-0, 9 KOs) also features on the night when he meets Tanzanian opponent Dulla Mbabe (34-13-1, 29 KOs) amid his march towards a British super-middleweight title opportunity.
Before then, a heated war of words between Chris Kongo and Florian Marku will come to a head in the ring when as the welterweight rivals clash in a 10-round contest.
Viddal Riley resumes his ascent with his toughest test to date against Mikael Lawal for the English cruiserweight title, and Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic looks to respond to his first-career defeat to Lukasz Rozanski by taking on Steve Robinson.
What has been said?
Frazer Clarke:
“He (Wardley) is overconfident. I think he has every reason to be confident, just look at his record and he’s not put a foot wrong yet.
“He keeps talking that he’s already beaten elite amateurs like Nathan Gorman. With all due respect to Nathan Gorman, he was a decent amateur but was nowhere near elite. That’s just a myth.
“The last win against David Adeleye. He’s a great personality and an up and coming prospect but, realistically, he lost a fight to Kamil Sokołowski, who I had already beat at a canter and I hardly trained for that fight. His (Wardley’s) two or three best wins, they are a bit void.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Fabio Wardley:
“I still don’t feel that the fights he’s had since (the purse bid) are of any worth or any real substance to put him in a position where he feels like he should be ready to fight me now. But if he does think that, then we’ll see.
“He knows what happened before with him pulling out of the fight has really affected his reputation. He’s got a lot behind him in terms of aggravation towards me and wanting to set that right. So I welcome it.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports Boxing’s Johnny Nelson:
“The pressure is on both fighters because Fabio, you look at what he’s done and you look at the form he’s been in, he’s been in excellent form, he’s done the job and beaten everybody in front of him. Whereas for Frazer it’s about opportunity, it’s about time, it’s speed of development.
“These two guys are finally getting in the ring together and they both have pride and self belief and they are doing it the traditional way. This is going to be one of those old school heavyweight fights where you’ve got two fresh fighters, not one that’s over the hill or one that doesn’t know what he’s doing.
“You’ve got two fresh fighters going in there to win no matter what. I remember this fights from time and time again, these kinds of British heavyweight title fight I love.
“It’s very even how these two guys are approaching this fight. I can usually sense somebody is rattled or shaking a bit, I can’t sense it with them. I think Frazer is actually really angry that he’s in a position where he’s having to bow to this guy and chase him for the title.”
Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley will collide in a ‘Bad Blood’ showdown for the British and Commonwealth titles on Sunday March 31 at The O2 in London, live on Sky Sports; the flamboyant Ben Whittaker will feature on the undercard, as will Viddal Riley vs Mikael Lawal
Get Sky Sports on WhatsApp!
You can now start receiving messages and alerts for the latest breaking sports news, analysis, in-depth features and videos from our dedicated WhatsApp channel.
