Frazer Clarke To Return ‘Bigger And Better’ After Brutal Fabio Wardley Knockout

October 15, 2024
4 months
Frazer Clarke was knocked out in the first round by Fabio Wardley

Frazer Clarke completed a “successful” operation on his broken jaw and vowed to return to boxing “bigger and better” next year following his brutal knockout loss to Fabio Wardley last Saturday.

Clarke was on the receiving end of one of the most savage stoppages of the year during his co-main bout against British rival Wardley, leaving the former Olympic bronze medalist with a fractured skull and broken jaw in the first round.

It was a stunning outcome to a bout that was viewed as 50-50 following their epic first fight in London seven months ago that ended in a deserved draw.

While Wardley retained his British and Commonwealth titles and looks towards future bouts against heavyweight contenders, Clarke was taken to hospital and underwent a minor procedure on his jaw. Given the severity of the knockout and the fact Clarke is 33 years old, there had been suggestions he could walk away from boxing just 10 fights into his professional career.

However, in giving an update on Clarke’s health, his promoter Ben Shalom said his fighter would be making his return in 2025.

“Frazer successfully underwent a minor surgery today,” said Boxxer promoter Shalom. “He’s feeling well and rested and will head back to the UK this evening to further recover with his family.

“He’s feeling more motivated than ever to come back bigger and better in the new year. He would like to sincerely pass on his thanks to well-wishers and we hope for a speedy recovery.”

Even in a sport as brutal as boxing, Clarke’s stoppage and the visible nature of his injuries – his jaw had clearly been knocked out of place and there was a dent in his head – left observers shocked. In explaining Clarke’s injuries, Neil Scott, the chief medical officer for the British Boxing Board of Control, said the injuries was both rare and painful.

“It’s not common. We don’t see it that often at all,” Scott told Sky Sports. “Visually it looks alarming because you see someone essentially with a big dent on the side of their face. The reason for that is the cheekbone comes forward as a thin piece of bone before it starts to fan out and form the prominence of your cheek. When you get a degree of force, the bone can essentially go in and that results in the visible divot.

“If the bone there is pushed in it can impinge on you opening and closing your mouth. The bottom jaw can deviate to the opposite side. If that’s pushed in enough and you’re trying to open and close your mouth, it’ll deviate off. It must be extremely painful and it must be quite distressing as well.

“I’m a maxillofacial surgeon by trade so those sort of injuries are what I deal with at work in the NHS and typically those kind of injuries are caused by, it sounds crazy, but bricks and things like this. With the size of the glove it’s not something that we see in boxing. It must be a tremendous amount of power to do that. A tremendous amount.”

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