Boxxer came to the English capital this evening with exciting prospect Adam Azim originally intended to top the bill. Due to a “severely infected hand” of Azim, heavyweight’s Frazer Clarke and Mariusz Wach were moved to the top of the bill at York Hall.
The pre-fight build up has seen little bandwidth wasted on the upcoming Clarke Vs Wach 10 round clash. The talk has centered around the failed negotiations between Clarke and British heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley.
Clarke and Boxxer ended up with egg on their face during the past month involving a bewildering purse bid drama involving Matchroom, Eddie Hearn and Wardley. However, despite the anguishing media profile the former Olympic bronze medalist headlined his first show against the experienced Wach live on Sky Sports.
The 1st round began with both men taking the center of the ring with Clarke’s jab easily out landing Wach in the first minute. Clarke loaded up with a big right midway through in a round where Wach landed just one shot of note. Clarke began to back up the big man from Poland to end a good opening round. Clarke’s double jab had taken hold early.
Round 2 started with an early right hand from Clarke, the Englishman was now adding the big right hand to the head and body with his trusty left jab. Clarke controlled the full three minutes on the front foot mixing up his shots nicely in a round Wach was far too predictable.
The 3rd round saw a much slower opening 60 seconds. Clarke started to let his hands go as the round progressed, but Wach finally landed a nice right hand midway. Clarke landed a good body to head combination with close to a minute left play. The end of the round saw a slight bit of friction between the pair as they both would not give an inch in letting each other past to their corners.
The 4th started with a triple jab from Clarke followed by a right to the body. At this stage Clarke was out landing and out working his opponent. A much messier round saw Wach start to use his size advantage to tie up his man, but Clarke still did enough. It was 4 rounds to nil on my card, with most eager to see the Englishman step on the gas.
Clarke started the 5th with his ever landing jab and took another right from Wach but followed up with a well countered right hand himself. With 45 seconds to spare as the big man from Poland walked into a crowd pleasing right hand. The pace had slowed but Clarke’s right hand was being let go with its most devastating effect by this point.
Round 6 saw big shots land on Wach, but he took them well as he continued to marauder forward. Clarke was taking the rounds with relative ease. Wach had clearly started to tire with Clarke taking the round with relative ease. The jab was being used less with his big right hand coming more prevalent as the fight continued.
Wach had little to no answer for Clarke’s accuracy at this stage. The size advantage was playing little role in the contest. Clarke did deal with a small attack from the Pole which saw two right hands landing, but they were too little to effect with Clarke ending strongly with a good right hand as the round drew to a close.
The 8th began with Clarke back behind a much busier jab, landing another good right hand in the opening minute. The remainder of the round saw little action other than a controlling Clarke connecting with one of his rights to the head. This one looked set for the distance.
A long right from Clarke started, by this stage, a very predictable opening to the round. But Clarke was chin checked up against the ropes halfway through. Clarke landed a good combination with a minute to go in a slowish three minutes.
The 10th and final round had Wach needing a knockout that never looked anywhere close to coming all night. A lovely right hand from Clarke landed 20 seconds in. Against the ropes saw another good combination on the back foot in a fight the former Olympic medalist barely took shot. Little to no action saw the fight draw to a close.
The scores read 100-90 with every round being given to Clarke. The 31 year old improves his record to 7-0 (5 KOs), Wach moves to 37-10 (20 KOs). Clarke fought the 10 round distance for the first time in his career, coping with the later stages comfortably against an overly predictable opponent.
