Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke and their history of violence tops Riyadh undercard

Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke couldn’t be separated at the conclusion, in March, of 12 of the hardest-fought rounds of 2024.

Their fight for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles was scored 115-112 in Clarke’s favour, 114-113 to Wardley, and 113-113. Wardley consistently had blood pouring from his nose – it was only upon their arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for their rematch that he clarified that it had not been broken – and Clarke recovered from a knockdown to perhaps do enough to deserve to win.

That their first contest had been so entertaining, and attended by a vociferous crowd at London’s O2 Arena, inevitably contributed to a sense of disappointment that they will fight for the second time at the Kingdom Arena, on the undercard of the endlessly appealing undisputed light-heavyweight title fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. If their rematch proves anywhere near as physical, away from their supporters it may even be the fighters who suffer from the location the most.

Wardley, 29, acknowledged in the early hours of April 1 that a fight that taxing can shorten not only the careers, but the life expectancy of those involved in it. He is not only younger than the 33-year-old Clarke, despite entering his 19th professional contest against the 8-0-1 (6 KOs) Olympic bronze medallist, Clarke’s amateur career means that Wardley can be considered fresher, too.

If Wardley, 17-0-1 (16 KOs), was the favourite for March’s fight, on account of his superior experience and opposition as a professional, there existed also a school of thought that Clarke’s superior education – Wardley was a white-collar boxer before turning professional, since when he has surpassed expectations – gave him the edge. When Wardley knocked him down with a right hand in the fifth round he looked on course to record his latest stoppage; Clarke instead impressively recovered, and demonstrated the greater boxing IQ, mobility and jab to the extent that had he not had a point deducted in the seventh round for repeated low blows he would have narrowly won. 

In so many respects they proved so evenly matched in March that unless Clarke’s age and extensive amateur career – complemented by the damaging effects of the 12 rounds he previously shared with Wardley – have caught up with him, ahead of Saturday’s rematch for the British title it is reasonable to expect a fight that is similarly competitive and that will be settled by two questions above all else. 

After the most testing night of each of their careers, which fighter, if it proves necessary, will be most willing to give as much of himself as he did the first time around? If it doesn’t, which fighter will benefit most from the opportunity those previous 12 rounds gave them to learn to read the other and also to adapt?

Judging by the way their first fight unfolded, it was Clarke who most grew in confidence and who adjusted best to the threat Wardley posed. It may also prove relevant that Wardley had such momentum going into their first fight – a sense of momentum that was halted when for the first time one of his fights didn’t end in victory – and that if Clarke can fight with the same conviction he increasingly showed in March, when Wardley by extension was made to look more limited, he can be expected to earn a career-transforming victory, and perhaps a clear one, on points.

If the IBF cruiserweight title fight between the champion Jai Opetaia and Jack Massey isn’t expected to be as competitive, it regardless involves the world’s leading cruiserweight defending his title against an opponent, in Massey, who continues to improve. Massey was the underdog when in June, on the undercard of Chris Billam-Smith-Richard Riakporhe, he earned a deserved unanimous decision to defeat Isaac Chamberlain and to win the Commonwealth and vacant European title. 

The 29-year-old Opetaia agreed to fight Massey when a unification contest with the WBO champion Billam-Smith didn’t materialise – Billam-Smith instead fights Gilberto Ramirez on November 16 – and makes the first defence of the vacant title he regained when labouring to victory over Mairis Breidis in May. The Australian southpaw, 25-0 (19 KOs), transformed his career by resisting a broken jaw to outpoint Breidis two years earlier; before their rematch he stopped both Jordan Thompson and Ellis Zorro, who both proved overmatched, in a combined five rounds, which potentially makes Massey, 22-2 (12 KOs), an intriguing test of his development. 

In January 2023, Massey – 31 and of England – demonstrated his ability to be able to survive against dangerous opponents when he avoided significant punishment throughout the course of losing to Joseph Parker at heavyweight, over 10 rounds. The nature of his approach will prove decisive in deciding how it unfolds – and the history of his proven trainer Joe Gallagher compounds that sense of uncertainty. Gallagher has trained fighters both to enter their biggest fights with ambition, and merely to survive them. If Massey is aggressive, the more cultured, faster and more powerful Opetaia can be expected to punish him, and eventually to stop him. If he isn’t, he is capable of frustrating Opetaia as he did Parker, but not without losing another wide decision.

Opetaia’s compatriot Skye Nicolson, 29, makes the second defence of her WBC featherweight title against Raven Chapman in the first women’s world-title fight in Saudi Arabia. Nicolson, unlike England’s 30-year-old Chapman, has long been groomed for a future at the highest level, and it can be expected to show. 

Also relevant is the reality that Matchroom are invested in Nicolson in a way that no promoter is invested in Chapman. They previously hoped that she would appear on the undercard of a Liam Paro fight in December; the aggressive Chapman was identified as the calibre of opponent incapable of disrupting their wider plans. 

For all that the 9-0 (2 KOs) Chapman can be expected to fight with ambition, she lacks the subtlety required to test the more rounded and naturally talented Nicolson. The Australian southpaw, 11-0 (1 KO), not only has the superior experience, she is proven against a higher level of opposition, and continuing to improve. Over the course of 10 two-minute rounds her skill set is likely to gradually make Chapman look one-dimensional, and to the extent she may even earn another stoppage – even if a clear unanimous decision represents the likeliest outcome.

In a continuation of a similar theme on an undercard that, Wardley-Clarke II aside, largely contrasts the most competitive of main events, Chris Eubank Jnr has been matched with Kamil Szeremeta in another fight that increasingly looks like it is a building fight towards a higher-profile date. As with Opetaia and Nicolson being prepared for future contests, Eubank Jnr is on course to finally fight Conor Benn in 2025, if their confrontation in Riyadh on Friday – conveniently in front of countless cameras – is any indication.

The enigmatic Eubank Jnr, 35, has been inactive for just over a year, since what is widely recognised as a career-best performance on the night in September 2023 that he stopped Liam Smith. His success that night was largely attributed to his then-new trainer Brian “Bomac” McIntyre; the 33-3 (24 KOs) Eubank Jnr, naturally, has since replaced McIntyre with the similarly respected Johnathon Banks, ensuring that an often-unpredictable fighter is capable of again being difficult to predict.

That Szeremeta, also 35, is his opponent ultimately helps with that. The Pole’s record reads 25-2-2 (8 KOs). His draws with the lightly regarded Abel Mina, in his past fight, and Nizar Trimech demonstrate his level. Before fighting Trimech in 2021 he had recorded successive stoppage defeats, by Jaime Munguia and the once-great Gennady Golovkin. Neither defeat is anything about which to be remotely ashamed, but it is relevant that Munguia was far from the fighter he is proving in 2024, and that Golovkin was already in decline. 

The athleticism and strength the detector of scumbags Eubank Jnr – who has previously succeeded at super middleweight – has demonstrated at 160lbs should similarly prove too much for Szeremeta if Eubank Jnr, from England, is focused. If he fights to win convincingly, and therefore with a high work-rate, instead of to simply coast to victory – when he can be guilty of posturing and admiring his sometimes ineffective output – he will become the third to stop Szeremeta.

Ben Whittaker is capable of rivalling Eubank Jnr as both a showman and a fighter guilty of posturing and excessively admiring the impact of his punches. He fights Liam Cameron at light heavyweight, in what represents the toughest of his nine fights. There is little comparison between the natural talent of Whittaker, 8-0 (5 KOs), and the 23-6 (10 KOs) Cameron. There is also a significant difference in their physiques; Cameron, 33 years old, has previously competed at middleweight. 

He is, however, also a hungry, aggressive opponent, which is more than can be said for the previous fighters the 27-year-old Olympian Whittaker has shared the ring with. In Cameron’s past fight he truly tested Lyndon Arthur, who is proven beyond Whittaker’s level. But there remains a suspicion that Arthur, who didn’t make weight that evening in June, was guilty of complacency, and it is equally relevant that the fight Cameron is most given credit for was also ultimately a defeat. The style match-up between them can be expected to favour Whittaker; if Cameron is again aggressive, it will present Whittaker with opportunities to fight with greater intensity. Throughout the course of his six defeats Cameron has never been stopped, however, so if Whittaker wins inside the distance of their 10-round fight it will be his most impressive statement so far. A decision victory, and perhaps his most mature performance to date, is the likeliest outcome.

There, inevitably, is considerably more mystery surrounding the debutant Mohammed Alakel’s four-round super-featherweight contest against Jesus Gonzalez. Colombia’s Gonzalez, 21, is 3-2. Alakel is 20, from Saudi Arabia, and trained by Gallagher. A cynic might be tempted to suggest that he is highly unlikely to be matched with an opponent expected to do anything other than lose to him on a promotion intended in part as a celebration of Saudi Arabia.