Once upon a time, Frazer Clarke was paid to break up fights rather than engage in them.

Clarke, who challenges Fabio Wardley for the British heavyweight title in a rematch on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol card on Saturday in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, worked as a security guard at boxing events to make ends meet when he was an elite amateur boxer.

“I was a teenage lad at the time and I was boxing for Team GB as an amateur, trying to get to the Olympics, and I needed to make a few bucks,” Clarke told ESPN. “It helped me stay out of trouble on the weekends. I worked often [Anthony] Joshua fights early in the fight and then in large fights like the ones he had against Dillian Whyte and Wladimir Klitschko. I was involved in both Carl Froch and George Groves fights, as well as other fights with fighters such as Kell Brook, Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew.”

Clarke (8-0-1, 6 KO), who turned professional in February 2022, said he attended press conferences, weigh-ins and fight nights, and in addition to the paycheck, he enjoyed being around fighters and learning the business.

“It was a strange situation with AJ because at the time I was running with him, working with him in the gym, sparring with him and even staying in the same place as him in Sheffield, but when it came to the fight tonight I was there the rope side works,” Clarke said.

At the end of the first round during the Joshua-Whyte fight in 2015, Joshua landed a left hook just after the bell. Whyte responded by throwing a left hand at referee Howard Foster to hit Joshua and then again as Foster was pushing Joshua into the corner. Clifton Mitchell, a former heavyweight and head of security at Wembley, entered the ring with Clark to separate the fighters and prevent the fight from escalating.

“Their teams came into the ring like crazy at the end of the first round and I was in the ring trying to stop it,” Clarke said. “I saw what was happening, it was getting close to the referee’s decision and I didn’t want a good fight to be stopped because of anything that happened after the bell, so I tried to get everyone out of the ring.”

Clarke became involved in security work through Mitchell after seeing him at a tiny boxing show.

“It was around 2011, 2012,” Clarke said. “He probably heard that I was getting up to mischief on the weekends and instead of waving my arms in nightclubs, he said why don’t you come over and work on boxing.

“Fight nights became a second home to me. I know the routines, I know the large arenas, I know what the fans are like and I know what to expect from large shows now. It’s normal for me.”

Clarke, 33, from Burton-on-Trent, stopped working in security in 2018 as he came closer to representing Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which he eventually did and won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division .

But Clarke’s Olympic dream was also almost knocked out in 2016 when he was stabbed.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time in my local town, maybe doing things that I shouldn’t be doing as an elite athlete, and I got off track for a while,” Clarke told ESPN in 2021.

“I was drunk, got into an argument and during the fight I was stabbed three times, once in the neck and twice in the leg. I had a two-week-old daughter at the time, so it was a really scary time for me and my family and I remember thinking, “Am I going to be here to raise my daughter?”

After turning professional, Clarke won his first eight fights, including six by stoppage. In March, Clarke’s first real test came against Wardley. In a thunderous fight, Clarke recovered from a knockdown in round 5, but notably lost a point for a low blow in round 7. Clarke was disappointed with the draw verdict (115-113, 113-114 and 113-113).

“The draw was complex to accept, but it’s part of learning and there’s something to build on. I know there are things I can do differently,” Clarke said. “One is not to get dropped like I did in Round 5, and the other is not to throw low blows.”

Clarke has sparred hundreds of rounds with Joshua, as well as fighters such as top heavyweight title challenger Richard Torrez and IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, who knocked out Joshua last month.

“He said he was going to throw large punches, so we’ll see if he does [Wardley] it does,” Clarke said. “I had a lot of different people at the gym I worked with and I had a couple of good rounds with Daniel Dubois before he fought AJ,” Clarke said. “[Wardley has] I told you he was going to throw some weighty punches, so we’ll see if he does.”

Wardley also had a career before becoming a professional boxer. Unlike Clarke, Wardley did not have a long and distinguished amateur career and entered the sport as a white collar boxer.

Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KO), 29, from Ipswich, worked as a recruitment consultant in the health and social care sector until he stopped focusing on his professional boxing career less than a decade ago. After four fights as an amateur, Wardley turned professional in 2017. Since then, he has been sparring, among others: with Whyte and current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Whyte was a major influence on Wardley’s career, which saw him achieve success with no amateur experience. He has knocked out top fighters such as Eric Molina, Nathan Gorman and David Adeleye and will enter the ring against Clarke as the defending British heavyweight champion.

“If you want to do it a little differently, you can – as long as you are committed – train demanding and do everything right as you can to succeed in the sport.” Wardley told Sky Sports in April.

“You have to push yourself a little bit, you have to graft and work harder than the rest, put your head down and fight, but you can do it.”

They both believe that a good performance on the large stage in Saudi Arabia will change their careers.

“I only gained experience away from the top players. I want to get some experience over 12 rounds and then I’ll be ready,” Clarke said.

An Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela rematch is in the works for a joint appearance at the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell event on January 25 in Las Vegas.

Fernando Sabatino reports X that Jose Benavidez Sr., Benavidez’s dad, says the second fight could be a Cruz vs. Rayo. They’re working on it.

This fight would add a lot of value to the headliner between “regular” WBA airy heavyweight champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KO) and WBC interim champion Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO).

The boxing world is already very interested in the Benavidez-Morrell fight, but adding a Valenzuela-Cruz rematch to the card makes it even better.

“Rayo” Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KO) dethroned Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KO), defeating him by a 12-round split decision on August 3 in Los Angeles.

It was pure learning from Rayo, who looked like a carbon copy of Vasily Lomachenko, using movement and power shots to dominate the hard-hitting Cruz. The 5’10” Valenzuela controlled the much shorter 5’4″ Cruz with his jab and did well to avoid his powerful shots.

Rayo-Cruz scores

– 116-112: Lightning
– 116-112: Lightning
– 115-113: Pitbull

It’s unclear what the PPV price for the Benavidez-Morrell event will be, but it will likely be over $70. The only two PPV events Benavidez has headlined in his career took place in 2023:

– Caleb’s plant
– Demetrius Andrade

Neither of these events reportedly produced huge PPV numbers, but they weren’t ideal opponents for Benavidez to fight on PPV. Morrell is a different story because he is undefeated, has great strength and is seen as a future star in the sport.

Some believe Morrell has Artur Berterbiev-level hitting power. The only thing missing in Morrell’s game is internal fighting and solid hitting.

Born in Cuba, the 26-year-old Morrell’s popularity skyrocketed during his low five-year professional career, and he won his first world title in his fifth fight, defeating Mario Abel Cazares by knockout in the first round of the “regular” WBA super middleweight belt 27 June 2021

David Benavidez has decided to continue his streak of establishing his own legacy.

confirmed that there has been a drastic change of direction for Benavidez’s next fight. The undefeated former two-time WBC super middleweight world champion will next face David Morrell. Their long-talked-about matchup is being primed to top the PBC Prime Pay-Per-View rankings in the first quarter of 2025.

Further details have not yet been finalized at the time of publication. Multiple sources have told The Ring that the time frame is between delayed January and delayed February.

The event contrasts with Benavidez’s team officials reporting “false” news about the mouth-watering clash with Morrell. Benavidez (29-0, 24 knockouts) even dismissed the fight with one sentence. The 27-year-old Phoenix native – who now lives in the greater Seattle area – previously claimed he was scheduled to face Jesse Hart on December 14.

Hart, who had no knowledge of the matchup, immediately dismissed the rumors. PBC representatives finally ruled out Benavidez’s fight on that day, the main attraction of which will be the fight for the WBA lightweight title of Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach.

Instead, Benavidez will get his own show, with the fight headlining. The ring learned that some of his team’s claims were “fraudulent news.” In the latest round of rumors, news emerged that the fight was headlined by the long-rumored junior middleweight title fight between Sebastian Fundora and Errol Spence.

This clash is not yet on the schedule. Regardless, Benavidez-Morrell has never been criticized for his undercard, even if Fundora-Spence becomes a reality. The fight is substantial enough to command its own banner, which is why Benavidez ran first in that direction.

“There were a lot of names on the table, but I wanted to give my fans the best fight possible,” Benavidez said on social media on Tuesday. “I contacted David Morrell and his team to make this happen and we signed the contract.

“This fight is really going to be amazing! [Two] of the best in division i [two] titles on the line.”

The titles Benavidez refers to are secondary. Benavidez holds the WBC interim delicate heavyweight title. Morrell (11-0, 9 KO) – a Cuban export training in Houston – holds the interim WBA delicate heavyweight belt.

Both boxers previously fought at super middleweight and were often linked to head-on collisions. It was a natural topic of conversation as both had previously been targeted by RING and undisputed super middleweight king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KO). However, this feeling was not reciprocated in return.

Benavidez and Morrell separately decided to fight at delicate heavyweight instead.

A pair of undefeated, elite and talented fighters appeared seven weeks apart.

On June 15 in Las Vegas, Benavidez defeated former WBC delicate heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk. The fight was a follow-up to Davis’ eighth-round knockout of undefeated Frank Martin.

Morrell went twelve rounds in a points victory over Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-2, 21 KO) on August 3 in Los Angeles. Their fight was part of the Riyadh Season’s debut premiere in the US, ending with Terence Crawford’s fourth victory over Israil Madrimov.

Rumors of a direct clash continued to resurface, although they seemed to be heading in different directions. The Ring has learned that previous plans called for Morrell to headline PBC’s Prime show – outside of PPV – in November or December. These plans were scrapped when the PBC lineup was shuffled and more suitable matchups came to delicate.

There are few fights on the schedule as compelling as this one that don’t have one or more major titles at stake.

Benavidez was already sure that next weekend he would become the winner of the undisputed title of Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol RING delicate heavyweight champion. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed that Benavidez will be the next mandatory challenger in waiting.

Morrell’s version of the WBA title would theoretically put him in line as well. However, this would require appropriate action by the sanctioning authority.

It’s a moot point for now, as they both look to each other for another payday, and both firmly believe that the reward justifies the enormous risk.