Frazer Clarke pulled from Fabio Wardley fight

When the British Boxing Board of Control ordered Fabio Wardley to defend his heavyweight title against Frazer Clarke earlier this month, both men expressed their enthusiasm for the matchup. It seems the feeling wasn’t universal, as Eddie Hearn alleges that BOXXER pulled “Big Fraze” out of today’s purse bid.

Hang on, I need to go make a really stupid joke about this.

There we go.

Clarke (6-0, 5 KO) basically broke the news to iFL TV yesterday, breathlessly insisting that he wanted the fight but insinuating that things were going poorly behind the scenes. Wardley (16-0, 15 KO) is understandably miffed, especially since Clarke’s 258 MGT team reportedly pushed to enforce the mandatory in the first place.

“Big Fraze” will instead stay busy against Harry Armstrong (5-1-1, 0 KO), BoxRec’s no. 316 heavyweight, on BOXXER’s June 10th Adam Azim vs Aram Fanyan show.

There’s obviously a lot to this saga that we’re not privy too; BOXXER’s Ben Shalom recently claimed that he offered Wardley “his career-highest payday” for the Clarke fight, though Wardley alleged that he was offered “less than [he] got for [his] last fight” with Michael Coffie. Much like Jose Ramirez turning down a shot at Regis Prograis, though, pulling out before the purse bid even happens is a punk move of the highest order.

So is having 31-year-old Olympic medalist Clarke continue to fight tomato can like Armstrong, while we’re at it, especially since Shalom threw 258 under the bus when criticized for Clarke’s other terrible mismatches.