Frazer Clarke ‘pulled out’ of Fabio Wardley purse bid by promoter
Eddie Hearn shared the news at midday on May 10 from the British Boxing Board of Control that Frazer Clarke has been ‘pulled out’ of his purse bid with British heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley.
Minutes before the 12pm deadline for bids today, Hearn, who represents Wardley, took to social media to announce that mandated Clarke was no longer participating, calling it a ‘shambles’ and a ‘disgrace.’
The Matchroom Boxing promoter tweeted this in frustration: "Heard from the BBBofC that Boxxer has pulled @BigFrazeBoxer out of the @Fabio_Wardley purse bid today. What a complete joke and a waste of our time. Robbing the fighters of opportunity and the fans of a brilliant fight. Shambles."
Fabio Wardley also voiced his disappointment in the faliure to make the fight that many fans wanted to see, "Spoke to a well known boxing solicitor/lawyer who writes contracts and he said he's never seen a contract ever – because he's been working in boxing for years – where a promoter has had the power to pull you from a fight basically, so ultimately the buck lies with Frazer, he has made the final [decision], it may be under advisement, but ultimately he has to be the person to go 'no, alright, I'm not doing it'."
Clarke was lobbied by his management team – 258 – to the British Board to be mandated to challenge Wardley for his British belt, but they didn't take up the opportuinty they campaigned for when asked of them.
The 28-year-old from Ipswich then offered a reason why BOXXER didn't want to bid, "I know the reason why BOXXER won't want to go to purse bids, is because they don't want to overpay Frazer because he's had six fights or whatever. And they know to win the bid you'll have to pay a lot of money; it's 60/40, he'll get a big chunk of money which they'll see as a large overpayment for someone who's six/seven fights in, so they're doing over their own fighter as well."
Wardley has seen the final bell just once in a 16 fight undefeated pro career following just a few white collar bouts. A third round stoppage win over the respectable Nathan Gorman to win the British Heavyweight title being his career highlight so far.
Clarke turned over last February after collecting an Olympic Bronze Medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games, and has since racked up six wins from six, with four stoppages. Even despite the extensive amateur experience, a 12-round affair with Wardley was going to be a big step up for the novice pro.
Following a war of words between the pair, the Board ordered the fight to take place and for purse bids to be prepared.
Despite the clear path to a British title, Clarke was rumoured to be taking a fight in the interim – something that baffled Wardley’s team. Clarke said he would be happy to forego it, but also that it wasn’t against the rules.
It was announced this week that he’ll be out on June 10 at York Hall to face Harry Armstrong, who is coming off a loss to fellow BOXXER heavyweight, Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva.
Suffolk man Wardley also refuted claims that BOXXER had offered him a ‘career highest payday’ to fight on Sky Sports. He instead looked forward to the process as ordered.
Fabio confirmed there was an offer made, "Yes, there was an offer made and it was less than I got paid for my last fight. That was clickbait headline on socials and they were trying to claw some credibility back."
Then Fabio revealed they came back with improved offers, which would've actually have becone a career-high payday for him, but it wasn't a cut and dry case, he attempted to explain, "Now, they came back a few more times and revised things, and that's a different story. It wasn't a simple fight deal, it was a multi-fight deal that they wanted and the fight they offered initially wasn't even against Frazer."
Despite all the frustration, Wardley gamely decalred he had no ill feelings towards his heavyweight rival, "In terms of Frazer, I actually feel bad for him. I feel like him and his promotion team are on completely different pages. He could have had a massive stadium fight in front of 30,000 people, we could have done all that and his own promotional company has removed that possibility for him."
Article sponsored by HÖRFA
