Fabio Wardley’s bloody heavyweight duel with Frazer Clarke was mighty close.
The pair met in an epic heavyweight duel at London’s O2 arena, which ended in a split draw despite Wardley dropping Clarke in the fourth stanza, and Clarke also having a point deducted for a low blow.
Defending champion Wardley also broke his nose which left blood splattered all around the canvas, and hindered his vision which saw Clarke come on strong at the end of the fight.
Response from the boxing world seemed to be settled on a draw, with judges scoring the contest as a 113-113 draw, 115-112 in Clarke’s favour and 114-113 in Wardley’s favour.
But Compubox’s released punch statistics from the epic war display the fine margins between the pair, with Clarke landing 157 punches to Wardley’s 151 on the night, just seven more overall than his rival.
Clarke also landed seven more power punches overall landing 92 of his 247 thrown, while Wardley landed 85 of his 245 thrown.
Ipswich native Wardley, was able to outland his rival in jabs however, landing 66 of his 231 thrown, while Clarke landed 65 of his 222 at a better completion rate.
It was also clear from the final statistics that Clarke ended the fight strong, with Wardley having emptied his gas tank as well as battling a horrific injury for the final rounds.
The doctors checked his injury briefly in the tenth and cleared the showdown to go the distance, to the champion’s relief who went on to retain his titles.
It is expected that the pair will now meet in a rematch later this year, but Wardley will need time to recover.
And ‘Big Fraze’ is certainly keen to run it back, being left disappointed that he wasn’t able to earn the final decision.
He said: “I’m gutted. I went in there to take the titles back to my babies, and they’re not coming back.
“Hopefully we can run it back. I think we can do that again. I’m a winner, and I’m gutted. I wanted to take them titles back to Burton-on-Trent and I wanted them titles for my kids.
“I’m healthy. I’ve come through the fight. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve showed I can do something in this sport – I really can.
“Winning the fight would have really rubbed it in [critics’] faces. I didn’t win. I drew. People can talk about being proud – this and that – at the end of the day the titles aren’t coming back with me.
“It’s not a loss; it’s a draw. I’ve spoken to the team. ‘Let’s keep our chin up – we’ll build on this.’ If there’s one thing I’ve got it’s the heart of a lion.”
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News Summary:
- Fabio Wardley vs Frazer Clarke punch statistics show exactly how close bloody battle was
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