Frazer Clarke’s team have asked for Fabio Wardley’s gloves to be investigated after the latter’s devastating knockout victory over his rival last Saturday.
Wardley and Clarke fought out a thrilling Fight of the Year contender that ended a draw in London earlier this year, reunited in Saudi Arabia last weekend for a British title rematch.
Clarke, a bronze medallist three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, suffered a brutal first round defeat with a vicious right hand from Wardley leaving a visible dent in the side of his head.
Clarke was immediately rushed to hospital, undergoing a successful operation to repair damage to his jaw and cheekbone.
The Olympian is now recovering back at home in the UK, having already passed on his congratulations to his rival.
Ben Shalom, Clarke’s promoter, has now claimed the circumstances behind that vicious punch that did the damage are now being looked into.
Speaking to Sportsman Boxing, Shalom said: ‘We will look at the glove situation, I won’t go too much into it. There was a lot of talk in the week about the gloves that were being worn by Fabio Wardley.
‘The doctor said to me there is no way in hell any boxing glove should be able to have that level of damage. But it was a clinical end to the fight by Fabio. Anything can happen in heavyweight boxing and Frazer will learn from it.’
Asked if a review into the glove situation is something Shalom and BOXXER have asked for, the promoter suggested there had been concerns in Clarke’s camp leading up to fight night.
‘Yes it is something we are looking at very carefully with our team,’ he said.
‘Not just for Frazer’s sake, but these customised gloves that are starting to get introduced, the word customised, the fact they are different, you have got to look at it.
‘As I said, I’m not going to get too much into this as it’s an ongoing process but during the week we were warned repeatedly by Frazer’s team over what gloves were being used.
‘But that is no excuse. Frazer lost the fight fair and square. It’s the damage it caused and that will be have to be looked at. But I take nothing away from Fabio, he is a class act and it was a class performance.’
