Fabio Wardley And Frazer Clarke Excited To Settle Their Rivalry In Riyadh

British heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke have both expressed their excitement at having the chance to settle their rivalry ahead of their rematch in Saudi Arabia next month.

British and Commonwealth champion Wardley (17-0-1 16 KO) and Clarke (8-0-1 6 KO) fought to a riveting draw in London six months ago and have been given the opportunity to run it back in Riyadh on October 12. Their bout will feature on an exciting undercard for the undisputed light-heavyweight world title fight between unified champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA title holder Dimitrii Bivol.

Wardley and Clarke were reintroduced during Wednesday’s press conference in London to promote the Riyadh Season event, and both fighters were in confident and combative moods.

Wardley, who got his start in boxing on the white-collar circuit and entered the professional ranks with zero amateur experience, remains convinced that he won the first fight in March but is happy to have the chance to compete in such an anticipated rematch on a massive bill.

“It depends who you ask,” the 29-year-old said. “I don’t think it was a draw at all. I think I pressed the fight. I pressed the action. I had him going in the fight numerous times. I had him down. Got a point deduction. I think there’s many a point there that proved I won the fight, but [it] set up for a bigger rematch so there’s not much to complain about. I get to come back to Riyadh, do it on a massive show on a massive card and settle the score properly.”

Wardley added the Commonwealth and WBO European belts to his British strap on his last visit to Riyadh last October on the undercard of Tyson Fury v Francis Ngannou. On that night, he stopped David Adeleye in the seventh round in his last fight before his first showdown with Clarke.

In their first bout, Wardley dominated early on and sent Clarke to the canvas in the fifth round. But the former Olympic bronze medalist’s superior skills shone through in the second half of the bout to earn the draw. Overall, it was a thoroughly entertaining contest that had fans demanding the rematch.

“I had options, but there was some unfinished business there,” Wardley added. “There were some bits to settle. I’m not the sort of person to leave things to lie. I want it settled. I want it finished. I want that chapter ticked off to move forward. While we played around with a few other options, realistically the only other thing was to finish off Frazer.”

Clarke is equally confident of victory in the rematch. The 33-year-old’s boxing journey has been much different to Wardley’s having come through the Team GB amateur system, although his professional experience lags behind his rival’s.

“Before I got back to the changing rooms [after the first bout], this is the fight that I wanted,” Clarke said. “The draw didn’t sit well with me. You could see I was devastated at the end of the fight, and I’m glad we got it on because quite frankly I’ve had a lot of good things to say about Fabio since that fight now we’re here and now I’ve seen him, I can’t wait to just smash him in the face again. So I’m glad it’s here.

“I’ve put the work in. Really really put it on myself to iron out those creases and right them wrongs,” Clarke added. “I’m taking a lot from these guys that are top of the bill.”