Frazer Clarke believes that Joseph’s Parker trainer, Andy Lee, is capable of giving him the edge when on Saturday he fights Fabio Wardley.
Parker and Wardley fight at The O2 Arena in London, England, where with victory they can potentially move a step closer to challenging the champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title.
It is almost 18 months since Clarke and Wardley fought to an entertaining draw at the same venue, and 12 months since the heavy-handed Wardley, 30, in their rematch stopped his fellow Englishman inside a round.
Clarke even more recently spent time in Parker’s training camp in preparation for the fight with Daniel Dubois that became the New Zealander’s stoppage of Martin Bakole, and it is for that reason that he became so familiar with the increasingly respected Lee.
He is also wary of the extent to which Wardley was getting outboxed by Justis Huni in June – perhaps not unlike during the first contest with Clarke – until the same power that stopped Clarke also helped him to avoid defeat by Huni, and therefore of the threat posed to him on Saturday night.
“I was with Parker earlier in the year when he was supposed to fight Daniel Dubois – I was in camp with him for a few weeks in Ireland, then we went over to Saudi Arabia,” Clarke told BoxingScene. “Great lad; great team. I’ve a lot of time for Joseph Parker; we did some really good work; really good sparring.
“Joseph Parker has a very good brain, and a very good teacher in Andy Lee. If you go into a big fight, he’s someone you definitely want in your corner. He’s been there and seen it himself, and he can dissect a fight very well, and that obviously runs down. During camp I was sparring Joseph Parker – Paddy Donovan gave me a drink of water between rounds, and I could see the effect that Andy Lee was having on Paddy, because Paddy was coaching me a little bit, so I could tell he’s a very good teacher.
“Him and Joe’s connection and the bond they have is very good – Joe’s in the right place. His whole team is fantastic.
“He’s just a good all-rounder. There’s not much he’s bad at.
“For Fabio, he’s been playing catch-up with experience – he’s a late starter. He’s been getting better all the time. You’d probably say he’s [almost] not been winning a round of boxing for a few fights. For the last fight, definitely, and then he’s had one round with me. He’s not been in great form, but when you’ve got the equaliser, it seems to be working for him.”
Clarke’s fight with Jamie “TKV” Tshikeva for the vacant British title had been scheduled to clash with that between the 33-year-old Parker and Wardley until an injury suffered by Tshikeva forced its postponement until November 29.
“Good fight,” he continued. “I’ve got to go with Parker as the favourite. Wardley, of course, has a puncher’s chance in every fight he’s going into. I’ve got to go for Parker as the favourite, but I’d never write Wardley off.
“Fabio’s [lack of] experience – in some fights he does a bit of turning away…
“They’re just good fighters.”
