Promoter Eddie Hearn hopes his heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher can get in the mix with Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley after their heroics at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night.

British and Commonwealth champion Wardley and Clarke battled to a hard-fought draw, and promoter Hearn agreed that it was a battle that would have taken plenty out of both men. Wardley’s nose was cut and bled profusely throughout, but he decked Clarke, who also had a point deducted, in one of the year’s best fights to date.

“That nose has caused him [Wardley] some problems and he’s going to need to get that sorted, because he can’t go through that with that kind of damage and well done to Frazer who’s a lovely guy and I was straight on the phone to Johnny Fisher, I said, ‘That’s the level that I really feel that you’re at. [David] Adeleye and then those guys, and I want to see Johnny Fisher pushing fights like that because he can provide the same kind of heart, the same kind of energy and that domestic level, British championship, can be really exciting and well done to both. Tremendous fight.”  

It was a thriller. Round 10 was one of the best sessions of fighting of 2024, and the fight took such a physical toll on Clarke that he slumped onto the canvas at the final bell, although both miraculously made it to the post-fight press conference, where they exchanged embraces and mutual respect.

While Hearn was enamoured by what he had seen, he admitted that such gruelling fights come with a price for the boxers down the line.

“What I saw was a tremendous fight, back and forward,” Hearn said. “I guess some people thought Frazer won, some people thought Fabio won, it was a really good British title fight. 

“It just shows you how good those Lonsdale Belt domestic clashes are. We saw it with that fight, we saw it the other week with the Frank Warren show, we saw it with Reece Bellotti with Liam Dillon. Fantastic. Great for the sport. 

“We want those fights. You don’t want those fights as a fighter. It’s going to take a lot of miles off the clock, both showed tremendous bravery and heart, but the damage done in those kind of fights is going to take a lot of miles off the clock off you career.”