Fabio Wardley Reflects on Epic Easter Battle with Frazer Clarke: Talks Possible Rematch, Future Plans, and New Respect

On Sunday, March 31, we witnessed an all-British heavyweight classic as Fabio Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KOs) and Frazer Clarke (8-0-1, 6 KOs) fought to a bloody, entertaining draw in the main event on the Boxxer Promotions Bad Blood card at the O2 Arena in London. Following Sunday’s main event, Clarke immediately made it clear he wanted the rematch, by saying: “I hope so. I’d love a rematch. I’d love to fight Fabio again.” Wardley has now addressed the calls for a rematch in an interview with Sky Sports.

Fabio Wardley Talks Possible Rematch With Frazer Clarke

Future for Fabio Wardley After Frazer Clarke Battle

Wardley and Clarke could not be separated after a 12-round war at the O2 Arena. The draw ensured the Ipswich native retained his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. Despite the thrilling nature of their fight, Wardley wants to explore all his options and not commit to a rematch straight away: “It doesn’t have to be immediate. It doesn’t have to be at all, necessarily. I still have my belts. I still move forward. Again the ball’s still in my court. It’s still my decision.”

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“We’ll look at the options. It was a good fight,” he continued. “I don’t know if I can do too many of those in my career, take off too much, put my family and friends through too much panic.”

The Ipswich-born fighter did tease a potential homecoming for the rematch: “Portman Road is always on the cards. It’s one the club want, it’s one I want. We did the O2. I think the next step from that is a stadium of some sort.” 

Reflecting on the Fight

Despite knocking Clarke down, and the Olympian having a point taken away for a low blow, Wardley refused to criticise the judges: “I’m not going to start bashing the refs or bashing the judges, that’s not my style. It was what it was. It was judged however it was judged.”

He continued: “Ultimately it was on me to do more in a fight to make it more convincing evidently. Next time around, if we get on, that’s what I’ll be doing.”

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Reflecting on his own performance, Wardley said: “There’s positives and negatives to be taken from that. There’s parts of the performance I’m proud of, parts of the performance I’m not so proud of. But overall it was a good night of boxing. Maybe not so much boxing, maybe fighting but still.”

“It’s all I’ve done in my career to date, have fights that are good, bad, hard, easy and improve and this will be no different.”

New Found Respect

The build-up to the fight saw some bitterness and words exchanged between the two, but it appears Wardley has a newfound respect for his opponent: “I said a lot in the build-up about his heart and seeing whether it’s there and turning up on the night and how he reacts under the lights and look, he did his bit. He reacted well,” he said.

He continued: “All credit to him, you need the right dance partner for massive nights like this, massive moments in my career and credit and thanks to him for being that for me.”