Frazer Clarke left with dent in head after sickening KO by Fabio Wardley

Frazer Clarke was left with a dent within the aspect of his head after a spectacular first-round knockout by Fabio Wardley of their rematch for the British heavyweight title.

The pair had gone the complete 12 rounds of their preliminary combat at London’s O2 Enviornment in March, which resulted in a draw, however this time in Riyadh – on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev’s controversial win over Dmitry Bivol – it was only a two-and-a-half-minute affair.

Within the first spherical of their combat, Wardley rocked Clarke with a proper overhand, then poured on a flurry of quick photographs. A left hook and two proper hooks despatched Clarke sinking into the ropes and the Olympic bronze medallist couldn’t beat the referee’s depend.

The vicious blows left a dent within the aspect of his head and his jaw askew, with promoter Frank Warren later saying Clarke suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone

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The consequence meant Wardley took his file to 18-0-1 (17 KOs) as a professional, whereas Clarke is now 8-1-1 (6 KOs).

A delighted Wardley stated within the ring afterwards: “I all the time know as soon as I damage somebody, I can eliminate them. I went into the final combat with a few points. We bought them mounted up, we bought the sport plan proper, we put it collectively, executed on the evening.

“I took sufficient evaluation from the primary combat to know I’ve success in that warfare mode, we simply wanted to be a bit of bit sweeter, put it collectively a bit of bit nicer, set issues up a bit of bit higher, disguise them a bit of bit higher. However I can’t assist it, warfare by identify, warfare by nature.

“As soon as I’ve my enemies damage, there’s no assist for them except that bell comes.”

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The dent in Clarke’s head was simply considered one of a number of weird incidents on the evening in Riyadh as, along with the scoring controversy in the principle occasion, one other undercard bout noticed Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron tumble excessive rope to finish their combat.

Whittaker appeared to injure his leg when he and his fellow Briton crashed excessive rope and onto the ring apron within the fifth spherical, menaning a technical determination was declared and the judges’ scorecards had been required.

These scorecards after 5 rounds learn: 58-57 to Whittaker; 58-57 to Cameron; and 58-58. As such, the combat resulted in a break up draw as Whittaker left Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Enviornment in a wheelchair.

Further reporting by PA