Fabio Wardley dropped Frazer Clarke in a stunning first-round win to retain the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Afrosport reports.
The two British boxers last met at London’s O2 Arena in March with the fight ending in a draw after a rigorously contested 12 rounds.
However, Saturday’s rematch at the Kingdom Arena didn’t take that long as Wardley knocked out Clarke with referee Victor Loughlin calling off the fight after just two minutes and 28 seconds.
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧. 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘.#BeterbievBivol | #RiyadhSeason | Oct 12, live NOW on DAZN | @Turki_alalshikh | Click the link in bio to buy pic.twitter.com/Utfax0Ivad
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 12, 2024
The 29-year-old caught his older challenger with an overhand right, which was follow up by a series of heart wrenching body shots. Although Clarke thought he had found a way out, more doom awaited him as the 33-year-old was met with a vicious left hook followed by jaw-dropping right hand which did the damage and left him wrinkling on the canvas.
Clarke, a bronze medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, held on to the ropes for support, taking a knee as he dropped to the canvas, with the referee only counting to five before deciding to call off the bout, as Wardley successfully defended his belt.
“I said I always know once I hurt somebody, I can get rid of them,” Wardley said. “I made errors in the first fight, I went into the first fight with my team saying maybe it wasn’t the right time, went in with a couple of issues, got them fixed up, got the gameplan right and executed on the night.
“Sometimes war is needed, sometimes a little bit of brain is needed, I took enough assessment from the first fight to know I have success in that war mode, we just needed to be a little bit sweeter, put it together a little bit nicer, set things up a little bit better, disguise them a little bit better.
“But I can’t help it: war by name, war by nature. Once I have my enemies hurt, there’s no help for them unless that bell comes.”
𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗘 💥
The moment @FabioWardley earned a 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 first-round KO 😤#BeterbievBivol | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/L7ipoOGvrb
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) October 13, 2024
The victory meant Wardley’s unbeaten record continued as he recorded his 18th win and 17th knockout in 19 professional fights, with the other ending in a draw.
The fight was an undercard to the main event between Artur Beterbiev, the reigning WBC, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight champion, and Dmitry Bivol, the WBA champion.
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