Queensberry’s new signing Fabio Wardley made good on his promise to produce a statement showing, blasting Olympic bronze medallist Frazer Clarke in their rematch to retain British heavyweight honours. Elsewhere, IBF cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia showed levels as he forced a merciful stoppage inside six rounds vs. European titleholder Jack Massey. Read on for more.
Wardley wades to world-level with crazy Clarke R1 KO
R1, 2:28: Fabio Wardley bt. Frazer Clarke via KO, retains British, Commonwealth and wins WBA International heavyweight titles
- Learning on-the-fly! “I took enough assessment from the first fight where I had success but needed to be a bit cuter, set things up and disguise them. I can’t help it, war by name and nature… always know once I’ve hurt someone, I get rid of them,” Wardley said of his performance post-fight
- Options aplenty: Former Anthony Joshua opponent Jermaine Franklin among names linked with Wardley as he looks to steadily bridge the gap from British and Commonwealth to world level, while others suggest he could instead make another defence to win Londsale belt outright
- Update: Clarke, who had a facial droop and dent in his head, was diagnosed with a zygomatic fracture and underwent an operation Sunday on his jaw and cheekbone to restore “normal facial contour and symmetry” as promoter Ben Shalom said he’d travel home to recover
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Fabio Wardley promised all week this would be round 13, a continuation of where he left off in March, during a heavily-anticipated British heavyweight title rematch many weren’t expecting to see twice. It didn’t seem likely in the opening 90 seconds or so but his passionate pledge proved prophetic.
Buoyed by a series of external factors – a multi-fight Queenberry deal, boxing on another Riyadh Season card, motivated by events elsewhere in the Ben Davison gym – he delivered a devastating first-round knockout win to leave Frazer Clarke’s professional career in serious jeopardy and punch his ticket into the 2025 sweepstakes as far as the world scene is concerned with Frank Warren’s backing.
The manner of his stunning stoppage victory was dramatic as it was destructive, considering Clarke began the first 90 seconds or so flicking out his jab and doing his best to resume what had him leading the dance in their original meeting.
That didn’t last long though with Wardley closing the distance, throwing an overhand right which immediately wobbled the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist.
Pinned in the corner and with no space to move, Clarke gamely fought back but Wardley could smell blood in the water after seeing a snake-bitten reaction. Spinning the older man around while still on unsteady legs, a three-punch combo was all she wrote, punctuated by an overhand right which left Clarke worse for wear.
Referee Victor Loughlin stopped his count at five, Clarke’s face told a rather uncomfortable story and he was hospitalised shortly thereafter to undergo surgery. Wardley said the bell saved him last time, and that history wouldn’t repeat itself.
It’s not a bad place to be, given Fabio’s white collar background, having insisted he learned plenty from a 12-round firefight some 4,000 miles away seven months prior that showed how well he can perform when he’s struggling outside the ring.
“I went into the first fight with a lot of background stuff, my team said maybe we should pull out and come back another day, had a couple of issues but we fixed them and got the gameplan right, executing on the night.”
He ended the interview saying while the current array of titles look great, he naturally wants to upgrade by becoming a world champion at some stage, doubling down on a desire to return to Saudi shores after two stoppages in Riyadh a year apart.
Opetaia masters Massey, retains IBF title in style
R6, 2:00 — Jai Opetaia bt. Jack Massey via TKO (corner retirement), retains IBF cruiserweight world title and improves to 26-0
If you could ever show a novice an example of differing levels in this sport, this fight would’ve exemplified it as IBF cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia started fast and wasted no time continuing his systematic beatdown of British opposition with a sixth-round TKO win over EBU European titleholder Jack Massey.
Massey, rewarded with this opportunity out-of-the-blue as circumstances elsewhere meant the Aussie’s ambition to unify world gold was put on hold until the new year, looked a bloodied mess through five rounds while Jai bounced intently on the spot between rounds, almost as if this was a televised sparring session.
You could sense fairly early on it would be a mismatch, Opetaia landing a thudding right with the Mancunian pinned up against the corner in the final moments of an interesting opening round, where I could hear IBF world welterweight champion Natasha Jonas barking orders of the challenger, needing all the help he could get.
A considerable underdog, you can hear him being urged to box-and-move but that’s easier said than done against someone faster and stronger too.
Jai continued jabbing at the 31-year-old’s body with sustained success while Massey couldn’t get near him quickly enough to fire back. This contest had an ominous feel to it through four rounds, Massey slow to land as Opetaia stalked him intently.
Digging body shots worked well for the champion, outworking and outboxing Massey as Jonas repeatedly told Massey to stay clear of the corners.
Into the fifth and I heard more of Massey’s support team further back in the crowd barking insutrctions, urging their man to throw with Opetaia and match his pace.
“Don’t let him back you up,” was Jonas’ cry but that fell on deaf ears as Massey was being picked apart further… trainer Joe Gallagher wisely threw in the towel after seeing more of the same during a stinging sixth and no-one could have any protests.
The 29-year-old – who won his $1.6m legal case against former promoter Dean Lonergan on Thursday – had two reasons to celebrate after this punishing display having dealt with behind-the-scenes issues in another camp finished overseas.
Alalshikh told ESPN in early May he planned to match the Beterbiev-Bivol loser with Opetaia, who could very well move up to join the cruiserweight ranks in 12-18 months’ time. If able to become undisputed champion by then, who knows?
Eubank drops, stops Szeremeta as Benn calls for showdown
R7, 1:50 — Chris Eubank Jr bt. Kamil Szeremeta via TKO, wins vacant IBO world middleweight champion on return after 13 months out
- Eubank Jr scores four knockdowns en route to much-anticipated TKO win on return against former world title challenger, admits he was “havng fun” and looked to show new wrinkles under trainer Johnathon Banks
- 35-year-old hopeful that 2025 will be a big year for him, potentially starting with a rearranged grudge match against Conor Benn, who confronted him on weigh-in day and is supposedly close to a fight date
- “You think you can beat me off the back of that?” Benn angrily repeats after being left unimpressed by Eubank’s latest stoppage victory
Chris Eubank Jr scored four knockdowns, including a pair in round seven en route to a merciful stoppage win over former unified world title challenger Kamil Szeremeta to win vacant IBO gold before an angry confrontation with Conor Benn, seemingly setting up a rescheduled catchweight contest between the two rivals.
After a 13-month layoff and with former opponent Liam Smith among the analysts on-site in Saudi this week, the 35-year-old was criticised for accepting a perceived light touch on his return having inked a “historic” partnership deal with Ben Shalom’s BOXXER in July following the expiry of his Wasserman contract.
He named a Billy Joe Saunders rematch and Benn as two domestic showdowns while ambitious targets Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford – with whom he briefly shared trainer Brian McIntyre – as multi-weight world champions on his radar in big bouts before departing the sport, though inactivity has been a frustrating problem.
Here, the Brighton star was hit too often for comfort but seemed content with Szeremeta’s power after picking shots on the outside before chaining together a combo finished with a right hand dropping the Pole barely a minute into the contest.
Szeremeta gathered his bearings before whizzing wildly and landing a pair of right hands to gain Eubank’s respect again, then stung him in the final half-minute.
Junior landed a succession of sneaky uppercuts in round two and couldn’t miss with that punch throughout, as the Pole’s best attempts at closing the distance were met with more shots to scramble his senses.
Eubank spoke about a desire to be patient rather than headhunt and showcase what he’d been implementing under new trainer Johnathon Banks, notably Gennadiy Golovkin’s old trainer, but he could’ve finished this sooner and really ought to.
After a scrappy third, both threw haymakers with mean intentions to kick off the fourth as Eubank boxed at his own pace, jabbing but being countered for being a static target at middle distance. His urgency slowed in the fifth as a bloody cut was spotted – caused by an accidental clash of heads – almost kicking Chris into gear again as he found another knockdown after unleashing a three-punch combo.
Left uppercut, right to the body and another upstairs left Szeremeta climbing back to his feet once more and the punishment persisted in the subsequent round before it was finally waved off. Jr’s bruising body punching did the trick, forcing his agemate to take a knee before teeing off with more as the onslaught was overwhelming.
Floored once more, referee John Latham had finally seen enough.
For all the ringside security posted by the ring apron, somehow welterweight Conor Benn managed to get from his complimentary seat into Eubank Jr’s face without much fuss, angrily confronting him again – before the fight formalities had been announced – just like he did yesterday prior to the ceremonial weigh-ins. While it’s clear this was always the plan, it didn’t make the sight any less unsavoury to watch.
Benn pushed him while they exchanged words, before Eubank’s friend and Al-Hilal forward Neymar stood between them overseeing their confrontation after Jr’s post-fight interview. They butted heads before departing the scene, adding more histrionics to a matchup not needing any. The pair were scheduled to box at a 157lb-catchweight two years ago this month, before Benn tested positive for clomifene.
Skye sees off Chapman without much fuss
99-91, 98-92, 98-92: Skye Nicolson (c) bt. Raven Chapman, retains WBC world featherweight title, improves to 12-0
Much like most Skye Nicolson opponents, Raven Chapman seemed to be in a trance whenever close enough to land any noteworthy attacks and that typified another routine world featherweight title defence for the 29-year-old Australian, a clear winner as the pair made history in the first women’s world title fight on Saudi shores.
Chapman began bouncy and applied pressure while Nicolson boxed off the back foot, looking to counterpunch as her style often dictates – but Chapman’s inability to throw caution to the wind and truly contain the spaces between them, or make this fight overly physical played to her detriment over the 20-minute distance.
The champion cannot be afforded time or space to pick her attacks, otherwise she’ll be smiling all the way to another UD10 win without having to juggle much jeopardy and so it proved. It feels like only unified featherweight titleholder Amanda Serrano, moving up for a Katie Taylor rematch next month, can crack the code in this division.
That’s not to say Chapman didn’t play her part as danger lurked whenever she had the right hand cocked waiting to unload but needed more output and to be defensively sharper. Nicolson’s corner played their part, cheering and hollering at the sight of positive actions against a diligent challenger struggling for any rhythm.
Chapman landed a noteworthy right in the seventh but besides that, there wasn’t really much to report for the challenger as Nicolson rode her advances well enough to steer clear while countering with her own subtle scoring shots too.
An example of that came in the ninth, the Aussie’s slick punching briefly saw Chapman stumble backwards before Raven reeled off a stray left hand of her own.
Smart to manoevure away and evade further danger, the final round felt like a formality and so it proved. As a neutral, you wished this was more entertaining though it’s not on Nicolson to provide that excitement if she continues winning.
Her friendship with undisputed super-featherweight world champion Alycia Baumgardner could complicate matters if she can unify titles at 126lbs but perhaps moving up a weight division or two will see her truly be tested at world-level.
Whittaker-Cameron ends in controversial split draw
58-57 Cameron, 58-57 Whittaker, 58-58: Whittaker-Cameron ends in split draw
The biggest pre-fight criticism surrounding this bout was the location, rather than the billing, for a highly-rated prospect in Ben Whittaker needing more seasoning to see just how good he truly is. Ultimately, this proved a forgettable weekend for his stock.
Riyadh rather than a west Midlands headliner against someone who made his pro debut in 2009 – Ben would’ve been 12 – and almost upset superior opposition in former IBO world light-heavyweight champion Lyndon Arthur last time out.
When proclaiming you’re not far off world-level and showboating against journeymen, people won’t queue up to sympathise when things don’t go your way.
Whittaker was fortunate to emerge with his unbeaten record intact, as Liam Cameron’s overzealous nature during the final moments of round five saw a scene akin to a WWE battle royal as both fell over the ropes. Replays showed the 23-6 pro initiated contact in the clinch which saw Whittaker fall, then take aptly-nicknamed Cannonball with him over the top rope, writhing in agony with an unspecified injury.
While Cameron took a little while to gather his bearings again, it became quickly apparent Whittaker couldn’t continue and an extended medical assessment saw the contest stopped, as round six was set to begin. The clear favourite had just been sternly warned by referee Loughlin after holding midway through round four and not long after, the sharpest of plot twists saw the contest prematurely halted.
Cameron was good value for an early lead and while Whittaker certainly did some decent work, not enough to deter the 33-year-old Sheffield man imposing himself. He began the opening round targeting the body, needing to maintain a tight guard as Cameron connected regularly upstairs and caught him with hooks on the inside.
Cameron landed flurries and cuffing shots during an interesting second, where Whittaker’s jab couldn’t really penetrate his high guard often and the underdog was already showing himself not to be like the eight other opponents he’d faced.
The first minute of the third was fiery, both landing big but absorbing them well as Cameron’s right hand continued to do damage before they traded short shots in the pocket. Whittaker wasn’t showboating as Cameron didn’t afford him that luxury, often frustrating him during competitive rounds the favourite was narrowly edging.
If round three was the closest, the following stanza was a clear Cameron round: Whittaker sternly warned after initiating excessive holding, much to the opposite corner’s audible disgust, before they again exchanged at short-range in sequences that didn’t flatter the favourite but exposed defensive deficiencies.
Being hit too easily and not landing enough attacks to deter what was firing back in his direction, you could sense he needed more urgency and to maintain distance if this was going to end with the highlight reel finish most were bracing themselves for.
Then after a fifth round where Cameron again led, the accidental foul and anti-climactic ending transpired. Once he’s fully recovered from what appeared to be a right leg injury, an immediate rematch in the new year should be his next port of call.
Elsewhere on the undercard
Riyadh-born super-featherweight hopeful Mohammed Alakel threatened a knockdown on more than one occasion early to get the crowd going, but ultmately had to settle for the same fate (40-36) during his pro debut against Jesus Gonzalez.
Manny Robles-trained Marco Maric earned a 40-36 points win over 61-fight pro Christian Lopez Flores on the Swiss-born American’s debut in the paid ranks.
Picture source: Mark Robinson (Matchroom) and Getty Images
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