sport news Fabio Wardley accuses BOXXER of having no 'minerals' and 'running scared' trends now
Fabio Wardley has accused BOXXER of having 'no confidence' in Frazer Clarke and 'running scared' after Ben Shalom pulled the 31-year-old out of their British title clash.
Wardley had been ordered to defend his British heavyweight title against Clarke, with the British Boxing Board of Control setting a deadline of Wednesday May 10 for the purse bids.
However, just 10 minutes before the purse bids were due to take place, Eddie Hearn Tweeted to say that Shalom and BOXXER had pulled Clarke out of the highly-anticipated fight.
The MatchRoom promoter wrote: 'Heard from the BBBofC that Boxxer has pulled @BigFrazeBoxer out of the @Fabio_Wardley purse bid today. What a complete joke and a waste of our time. Robbing the fighters of opportunity and the fans of a brilliant fight. Shambles.'
Shalom was quick to defend his decision to pull Clarke out - claiming the 31-year-old's limited experience in the pro ranks and his lack of rounds would have been problematic. Shalom also said that he was eager for Clarke to have a 10-round warm-up fight before going into a 12-round British title bout.
Wardley has accused BOXXER of having 'no confidence' in Frazer Clarke and 'running scared'
Wardley had been order to defend his British heavyweight title against Clarke but Ben Shalom pulled him out of the British title clash
Wardley says that Clarke has the 'wrong people around him' such as BOXXER and Sky
However, Wardley is adamant that BOXXER are making excuses for Clarke as they have 'no confidence' in his ability - claiming Shalom and his team 'ripped a massive occasion' away from the 31-year-old and the Beitish public.
Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport, Wardley said: 'The bottom line is, they've run away from it. They've run scared. That's the long and short of it unfortunately. They've run away from a fight that they have no confidence in their man to win.
'For all the talk, for all the we want the British title, we want the Fabio Wardley fight, I think I could beat him now, I think I could beat him in his next fight, I could do this, I could do that... they turned and ran a mile when D-day came.
'So, there's no other explanation other than you know your man will get beaten by me and that he's not ready for me. All credit to his previous accolades and his amateur background but this is a different game.
'I have been in professional boxing now for seven, eight years. That's all I've been in. I've only been a professional boxer so all I know is professional boxing. You may be amateur this, you may be amateur that, you may have a bronze medal but this is professional boxing.
'This is something I am built for, this is something I designed for. I am also known for getting stuck into the wars and not shying away from them at all. These are all facts that they know and they've obviously looked at a list of pros and cons and thought hang on, we've got a strong amateur here but he's got a novice professional record.
'Then they're thinking we've got a very strong professional here that has been tested, that's been weathered, that knows the game and has only been tested in professional boxing. We know the distance from amateur boxing to professional boxing. So they've gone, we don't have the minerals for this and run the other way.'
When asked who was to blame for the collapse of the British heavyweight title fight, Wardley said Shalom. He said that the promoter was responsible for 'ripping a massive fight' away from Clarke.
Eddie Hearn was furious with the decision and accused BOXXER of wasting everyone's time
Wardley told Mail Sport: 'I think it's Ben [Shalom]. That's the credit I will give to Frazer. I do believe a part of him wants the fight. I believe he is surrounded by the wrong people. He's been advised by the wrong people and he's got the wrong people in his ear in terms of BOXXER, in terms of Sky, in terms of 258 [management].
'I think he might have been confident in himself in terms of the fight against me - thinking he can do it. But, everyone around him was a bit more sheepish about the idea and they got in his ear.
'They will have been saying, how about we wait, how about we build you up, how about we do a few more fights, how about we get you to a level to train for this, we'll get you to an eight-rounder, we'll get you to a 10-rounder.
'An excuse for them that they were using was that he's not done more than six rounds. Okay, well neither have I. I've never done more than six rounds. I might have trained for 10 and 12
