Cheavon 'Chev' Clarke was in Bournemouth on Sunday night to watch Chris Billam-Smith successfully defend his WBO cruiserweight tile against Mateusz Masternak. 

In June, Clarke knocked out David Jamieson in a final eliminator for the British cruiserweight title, currently held by Isaac Chamberlain.

A fight between Chamberlain and Clarke would be an exciting, important fight for the division but, as always seems to be the case, there are lots of moving parts. 

Chamberlain has recently been installed as mandatory challenger for Michal Cieslak’s European title and fights for Boxxer on Sky Sports whereas Clarke boxes under the Matchroom banner on DAZN. An EBU title fight would be a logical career step for Chamberlain and delay - for the time being at least - a complicated set of negotiations and/or purse bids regarding a cross promotional fight, but it would leave 32-year-old Clarke is no man’s land. He is hoping the British Boxing Board of Control force the issue and provide him with some clarity.

“Not a lot of people wanna talk about it but I’m mandatory for the British so let’s talk about that,” Clarke (7-0, 5 KO’s) told Boxing Social. “I’ve been mandatory since June. It’s been a good year and I’m ready to kick on, pick up the British and keep it moving.

“What’s going on Ben [Shalom, of Boxxer]? He’s kind of swerving it. I call it as it is. Hopefully the board will make it soon and things will kick on.

“I don’t know how they’re gonna do it but all I know is that I’m mandatory. You can run but you can’t hide.”

Billam-Smith, former champion, Lawrence Okolie, and WBO mandatory challenger, Richard Riakporhe, are all established on the world stage but Clarke is part of a deep domestic cruiserweight scene that includes the likes of Chamberlain, Jack Massey, Viddal Riley, Jordan Thompson and Ellis Zorro, who’s unexpected shot at cruiserweight king, Jai Opetaia, takes place in Saudi Arabia on December 23rd.

The man known as 'C4’ has the deepest amateur background of that interesting group. He represented Jamaica at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but won the English National Elite title in 2016 and went on the represent Great Britain. He won European and Commonwealth medals before competing for Team GB at the 2020 Olympic Games. He also has a crowd pleasing style, using speed, reflexes, angles and aggression.

“It’s a great time to be alive, especially in the cruiserweight division in Britain because there’s so many of us,” said Clarke, who also beat Billam-Smith twice as an amateur.

“I’m willing to fight, if the other guys are willing to fight then the beneficiaries will be the paying supporters. They’ll be entertained.”