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Frazer Clarke: Former world title challenger Mariusz Wach up next in heavyweight clash

Frazer Clarke is set to face former world title challenger Mariusz Wach in a heavyweight clash at London's York Hall on June 16, live on Sky Sports.

Wach (36-9) has faced some of the division's biggest names including Wladimir Klitschko, Alexander Povetkin, Hughie Fury, and Dillian Whyte and will take on Clarke (6-0) in just his seventh professional outing.

Both Clarke and Wach are former Olympians - Clarke claiming a bronze medal for Great Britain at the 2020 Games and Wach representing Poland in the 2004.

“I’m glad that we’re finally able to announce this fight and let people see the kind of challenges I’m looking for," Clarke said.

"Mariusz Wach is a very tough opponent, his record speaks for itself - look at the names he’s been in there with and the kind of fights he’s had with them. So I hope it’s clear to everyone now that Frazer Clarke isn’t afraid of anyone.

“I’m in this game to be world champion and the pathway has always been carefully planned. A lot has been said about me lately but people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes.

"Myself and my promoter Ben Shalom are on the same page and we’re executing the plan step by step. I expect to have the British heavyweight championship belt round my waist by the end of the year - but first I have to handle Mariusz Wach.”

Ben Shalom, BOXXER CEO, added: “This is a great fight for Frazer Clarke. Mariusz Wach is a very tough customer who has shared the ring with some of the biggest names in the sport with some memorable performances.

"Frazer Clarke is taking a big step up on June 16 but these are the challenges he needs as he makes his way to the top.”

The night will feature several hotly-tipped British fighters including super-lightweight prodigy Adam Azim against Ukrainian Aram Fanyan, who is on the edge of the European Boxing Union top-10 rankings and has lost just once in 23 professional fights.

Caroline Dubois also takes on Yanina Lescano, who controversially lost out on the IBO world championship to Estelle Mossely.

Love how they pulled a name out.

They can try get one over Eddie.

Wach needs to retire really.

Wach is a corpse. Id rather see Big fraze in with Dave Allen. Someone who will give him rounds.

A decent name.

I didn’t see see Wach’s last 2 fights but from what I’ve read they were one sided heavy bearings. Will depend on how much ambition he has left. I’d imagine very little but hope I’m wrong.

Guys like Wach now, they’ll try and they’ll have like a 10 second spurt where they show they trying.

But it’s not gonna do much.

Will it give Faze some rounds? Maybe.

Wach needs to fight back, or I’ll become a sparring session.

He took over a while from Kevin Johnson as the guy bought in to go 10 rounds with prospects.

I don’t expect he will fall over when looked at. Funnily enough I see him as better than Bogdan Dinu who always seems to just get stopped at the remotest sign of a tough moment.

What they haven’t thought about is how many people get cut in fights vs Wach.

At some point Wach is going to get dropped and stopped because his concrete skull just can't take it any more and whoever that random prospect is will instantly claim they are better boxers and harder hitters than Wlad, Povetkin, Bakole, Whyte, Makhmudov etc

joshj909 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 10:40 At some point Wach is going to get dropped and stopped because his concrete skull just can't take it any more and whoever that random prospect is will instantly claim they are better boxers and harder hitters than Wlad, Povetkin, Bakole, Whyte, Makhmudov etc

Like AJ v Kevin Johnson. Nothing will convince me The Kingpin didn’t get a few quid extra for that.

joshj909 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 10:40 At some point Wach is going to get dropped and stopped because his concrete skull just can't take it any more and whoever that random prospect is will instantly claim they are better boxers and harder hitters than Wlad, Povetkin, Bakole, Whyte, Makhmudov etc

When he fought Wlad I did think that was a super human effort to go the distance. In fact I'd say that display of a chin was more impressive than all of Joe Joyce's fights.

big mak already dropped and stopped him, he should retire

Eddie’s already come out and spoken about Wach. Said it’s a dangerous fight. Not for Clarke but for boxing given Wach’s age and the fact he’s took a beating in his last few fights.

Like Matchroom have never done this kind of matchmaking before!

maverick23 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 13:47 Eddie’s already come out and spoken about Wach. Said it’s a dangerous fight. Not for Clarke but for boxing given Wach’s age and the fact he’s took a beating in his last few fights.

Like Matchroom have never done this kind of matchmaking before!

Wach hasn't been used by Matchroom for a long time now to be fair.

Ironically Wach has had double the number of fights that Hughie Fury has had since the two of them fought.

York Hall is not an ambitious booking if Clarke is a serious contender and ticket seller, wouldn't have seen Joshua at the York Hall at this stage of his career.
I wonder how much money these olympians are making as they're not giving off value for money with fights like this

tony1234 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 14:18 York Hall is not an ambitious booking if Clarke is a serious contender and ticket seller, wouldn't have seen Joshua at the York Hall at this stage of his career.
I wonder how much money these olympians are making as they're not giving off value for money with fights like this

He boxed there in his third.

jameswilson wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 13:52

maverick23 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 13:47 Eddie’s already come out and spoken about Wach. Said it’s a dangerous fight. Not for Clarke but for boxing given Wach’s age and the fact he’s took a beating in his last few fights.

Like Matchroom have never done this kind of matchmaking before!

Wach hasn't been used by Matchroom for a long time now to be fair.

Ironically Wach has had double the number of fights that Hughie Fury has had since the two of them fought.

Yeah - I’m not referring directly to Wach. More that we could probably name a dozen veterans, coming off several losses, bit of name value, no ambition that Matchroom have brought over over the years to make a prospect look good.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 14:51

tony1234 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 14:18 York Hall is not an ambitious booking if Clarke is a serious contender and ticket seller, wouldn't have seen Joshua at the York Hall at this stage of his career.
I wonder how much money these olympians are making as they're not giving off value for money with fights like this

He boxed there in his third.

Yeah - 6 weeks after his debut. Promotionally AJ was put through almost perfectly. Lots of activity so even if he fought someone poor they’d be on to the next one not long after. 9 fights in the first year. Mostly on big arena shows and PPV undercards.

Wach instead of Wardley?
No thanks.
Like James mentioned above, Wach offers very little besides the risk of getting cut these days.
I like heavyweight boxing, but I doubt I'll make much effort to watch this one.

Will the BBBoc sanction this?
Wasn’t lucus brown refused recently because of his age? And brown was coming off the back of a couple of quality wins too.

I actually don’t mind this fight for Frazer, if the thing he thinks he needs is rounds.. but you can never expect a meaningful fight soon after one like this because there’s always a chance you bust your hand…

just watched Wach rocking Wlad 11 years ago !

So we've gone from a fight with a live, ambitious Wardley to one against mummified Wach. Absolutely dire state of affairs and Frazer needs better than this if he's as good as he appears to be.

Wow

Massive step up for Clarke - Not !

Shalom should hang his head .
Going from Wardley to this is so embarressing .

gosh he should learn so much from this

mickey1975 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 14:51

tony1234 wrote: ↑18 May 2023, 14:18 York Hall is not an ambitious booking if Clarke is a serious contender and ticket seller, wouldn't have seen Joshua at the York Hall at this stage of his career.
I wonder how much money these olympians are making as they're not giving off value for money with fights like this

He boxed there in his third.

Joshua's third fight in a month after turning pro, after a similar time as a pro he was headlining the O2 and already way ahead of anything Clarke is going to do.
If Boxxer/SKY see something in Clarke going forward he needs better fights than Wach and the likes

Matt Christie (again) nails it in this week's Boxing News.

Boxxer haven't done anything wrong apart from handle this abysmally from a PR point of view.

This fight is absolutely fine as a 'train for a 10 rounder', and then push for the British title and proper fights thereafter.