“I’m as focused as I need to be,” said Frazer Clarke as the bad blood simmered between him and his rival, fellow British heavyweight Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva. “There’s no doubting this opportunity and what it means to be British champion. I think every professional heavyweight in this country, it’s an ambition of theirs. It has been of mine, since I spoke to [promoter] Ben [Shalom] about turning professional and I’ve tried, I’ve failed, I’ve learned from that failure and now I feel like I’m in the best place possible to become British champion.”
Clarke and TKV came head-to-head on Thursday at the press conference before they fight on Saturday at the Vaillant Live Arena in Derby, England, and Clarke was clearly happy to have stood by Shalom after the promoter and their previous broadcaster, Sky Sports, went their separate ways.
“The biggest well done to Boxxer and Ben, it’s not a secret – the last few months have been difficult, but for a company we’ve got it done; we’re with the biggest broadcaster in the country; everyone’s going to get to see this on terrestrial TV and it’s a privilege to be main event for the first show.”
Clarke, 34, and TKV headline Boxxer’s debut BBC show and Clarke said he feels a responsibility to make his fight count. He also said that he felt that TKV’s rib injury, which caused the postponement of the first fight date, was strategic.
“He wanted to buy some more time,” Clarke alleged. “I believe he needed a bit more time.”
TKV inevitably disputed that but said that he was excited by the opportunity of headlining the BBC’s return to boxing.
“It gives me more motivation,” he said. “This should be my first title defence. That’s how I look at it. I should have walked away that night [from my fight against David Adeleye] as the British heavyweight champion and this should be my title defense, but you know what? Things happen for a reason.
“We’re here now and we’re going to fight on Saturday. It’s big. I know how big this opportunity is.”
TKV has been outspoken in the build-up to Saturday’s fight, implying that Clarke is a pretend nice guy.
“He has a persona, he’s a good guy in front of everyone, in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes he makes a lot of cheeky and disrespectful comments, and that’s what I’m talking about,” said TKV, who is 8-2 (5 KOs) and 32 years old. “You don’t need to be disrespectful; we’re going to fight anyways.”
Clarke, an Olympic bronze medalist, is from Derby, so London’s TKV is heading into enemy territory to challenge for the vacant British heavyweight title.
“We’re here in his backyard,” said TKV. “This show favors him. He’s always had it easy. He’s a red-carpet fighter. Everything favors you.”
Clarke has twice boxed newly-crowned WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley, going to a 12-round draw in a wild battle but then getting blown away in a round in the rematch. He would like a trilogy fight down the line.
“First and foremost, I can sit here and congratulate Fabio Wardley because the story and the way he’s done it and what he’s done, I think it’s fantastic,” said Clarke, 9-1-1- (7 KOs). “But that is now one of my ambitions. People might think it’s a million miles away; first and foremost I’ve got to concentrate on Jeamie…
“I have to take care of Jeamie before I do anything. But if that opportunity arises itself, oh my god, I would take it with both hands. That’s something I would definitely look to do again. Congratulations to the world champion, but the division now, it only takes a few fights and you can be mixing it with these guys.”
Asked whether the fight on Saturday goes the distance, Clarke, 34, responded: “Not a chance.”
TKV replied: “I’m knocking out Frazer and he knows it.”
