Frazer Clarke undergoes "successful" operation after his devastating first-round loss to Fabio Wardley; Wardley and Clarke were rematching after a thrilling British and Commonwealth heavyweight title fight earlier this year; Clarke vows to return after injury
Monday 14 October 2024 06:34, UK
Frazer Clarke has undergone a "successful" operation to repair the damage to his jaw and cheekbone after his first-round loss to Fabio Wardley.
Clarke was hospitalised after being knocked out by a devastating right hook in the opening round.
Clarke had a fracture high up on the jaw that required a minor surgery, and has already been discharged.
"Frazer successfully underwent a minor surgery today," said Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom on Sunday afternoon. "He's feeling well and rested and will head back to the UK this evening to further recover with his family.
"He's feeling more motivated than ever to come back bigger and better in the new year. He would like to sincerely pass on his thanks to well-wishers and we hope for a speedy recovery."
After defending his British and Commonwealth heavyweight championships in Saturday's rematch, Wardley also sent his best wishes to Clarke following the conclusion of their rivalry.
"I always take a prayer before my fight, always ask for me and my opponent to leave and be healthy," Wardley said.
"I want, whoever I'm in with, to go back to their family and I hope he's well, I hope I can speak to him afterwards because those first 12 rounds we shared first were special.
"I had to make a statement tonight. I appreciate the war last time and what a great spectacle that was."
Clarke's recovery is expected to take between six and eight weeks.
Wardley can look to his own future. He has proved he can move on to world level.
"I'm ready to mix it with those boys. I've got the power to mix it with them all, I can take a shot, and I can have a war," the British champion.
"You've seen me do everything. I'm ready for that world stage now."
Neil Scott, the chief medical officer for the British Boxing Board of Control explained that injuries of the nature Clarke suffered are rare in boxing, and extremely painful.
"It's not common. We don't see it that often at all," Scott told Sky Sports. "Visually it looks alarming because you see someone essentially with a big dent on the side of their face.
"The reason for that is the cheekbone comes forward as a thin piece of bone before it starts to fan out and form the prominence of your cheek. When you get a degree of force, the bone can essentially go in and that results in the visible divot.
"If the bone there is pushed in it can impinge on you opening and closing your mouth.
"The bottom jaw can deviate to the opposite side. If that's pushed in enough and you're trying to open and close your mouth, it'll deviate off.
"It must be extremely painful and it must be quite distressing as well.
"I'm a maxillofacial surgeon by trade so those sort of injuries are what I deal with at work in the NHS and typically those kind of injuries are caused by, it sounds crazy, but bricks and things like this.
"With the size of the glove it's not something that we see in boxing.
"It must be a tremendous amount of power to do that. A tremendous amount."
A repeat of Fabio Wardley's rematch with Frazer Clarke on the epic Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol bill is on Sky Sports Box Office 6pm on Sunday. Book the repeat of Wardley vs Clarke 2 and Beterbiev vs Bivol now!
