Lennox Lewis has told Frazer Clarke that he only needs to “fix a couple of things” to overcome Fabio Wardley in their highly anticipated heavyweight title rematch.
After an epic draw in their fight for Wardley’s British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in March, the two will rematch on the bumper October 12 Sky Sports Box Office bill, topped by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s undisputed light-heavyweight clash.
Three-time heavyweight world champion Lewis joined Clarke as he prepared for the return bout to offer some guidance.
Lewis lost his heavyweight titles to Hasim Rahman in 2001 before avenging the defeat with a knockout of his own later that year.
“For me, it was easy because I understood the mistake,” Lewis told Clarke.
“It was like, ‘I know what I did wrong. I’m going to go and correct it, and then come back even stronger’.
“For you, you’re almost there, bro. All it is, is a little bit more conditioning and then the gameplan, and you’re there.
“I was very impressed with your fight, and said, ‘Second time around, just fix a couple of things’.”
Olympic bronze medallist Clarke was floored in the fifth round of the April bout, but fought back to enjoy periods of success as the judges ultimately scored the fight a draw.
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Watch highlights from Fabio Wardley’s thrilling draw with Frazer Clarke ahead of their rematch on October 12, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
“I got back to that changing room and obviously the fight had ended in a draw, so I didn’t feel like he’d made it a draw, I felt like I threw it away,” Clarke said to Lewis.
“Since that day, I’m not a big fan of watching myself back, but I’ve been hammered, I’ve seen so much of myself from my last fight, and I’ve not looked at me doing anything correct. All we’ve looked at is the mistakes I made.
“It’s that small percentage where you get punished in the fight. Our thinking for this fight is, if we eliminate the mistakes and build on what we already had, we’re in a good position.”
Lewis offers Clarke advice on managing expectations
Clarke also revealed to Lewis how he coped with high expectations from his professional debut after returning from Tokyo with an Olympic medal.
Before facing Wardley, Clarke had comfortably won all eight of his professional bouts with six knockout wins, but a hard-fought bout meant he was able to show his battling spirit along with his boxing skills at the O2 Arena in April.
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Johnny Nelson believes that the second fight between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke will not go the distance after their epic draw in March. Live on Sky Sports box office on October 12.
“Straight after the Olympics, I signed with Boxxer and Sky Sports and I was on the TV all the time,” Clarke said.
“I feel like it gave a certain expectation of me coming into the pro ranks and just be the finished article. And it was far from the truth because I just felt like I was starting again.
“I was trying not to listen to all that noise but sometimes in this day and age, it’s hard to get away from it.”
Lewis, who won gold at the 1988 Olympics, agreed with Clarke that moving from the amateur to professional ranks is almost a career reset.
Lewis said: “You filled your cup up as an amateur champion, now you want to be a professional champion, so it’s a refill of your cup.
“It isn’t going to come to you. You’ve got to put in the time, you’ve got to put in the effort, and then you’ve got to know what to work on.
“If you’re boxing and your feet are in quicksand, that’s no way to box. You’re not going to get too far that way.
“All great heavyweights had great jabs, so you’ve got to develop that jab. Very important.”
Watch ‘Frazer Meets Lennox’ On Demand now.
Fabio Wardley’s huge rematch with Frazer Clarke is on the epic Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol bill on Saturday October 12 live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Wardley v Clarke 2 and Beterbiev v Bivol now!
