Frazer Clarke has surgery on sickening facial injury and learns road to recovery

Frazer Clarke has undergone surgery after suffering a fracture high up on his jaw during his crushing defeat to Fabio Wardley as he challenged for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles

Frazer Clarke has undergone a ‘successful’ operation on his sickening facial injury, with the boxer’s recovery expected to take up to eight weeks.

Clarke took on Fabio Wardley for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles on Saturday night. But he sustained a serious facial injury in the first round, with the referee calling the fight off after Wardley unleashed a devastating right hook.

In March, the duo had fought to a tremendous draw over 12 rounds, with Saturday night being a rematch. It was over in a matter of moments though as Wardley caught Clarke with a number of powerful shots that left him crumpled down on to the ropes

The fight was stopped at that point, with Clarke taken to hospital with a suspected fracture high up on the jaw. Promoter Ben Shalom has now confirmed Clarke has undergone surgery and is on the mend.

“Frazer successfully underwent a minor surgery today,” Shalom said on Sunday afternoon. “He’s feeling well and rested and will head back to the UK this evening to further recover with his family.

“He’s feeling more motivated than ever to come back bigger and better in the new year. He would like to sincerely pass on his thanks to well-wishers and we hope for a speedy recovery.”

It is expected that Clarke’s recovery will take between six and eight weeks. After successfully defending his belts, Wardley sent his best wishes to Clarke, but admitted he felt forced to unleash his power.

“I always take a prayer before my fight, always ask for me and my opponent to leave and be healthy. I want, whoever I’m in with, to go back to their family and I hope he’s well,” Wardley said.

“I hope I can speak to him afterwards because those first 12 rounds we shared first were special. I had to make a statement tonight. I appreciate the war last time and what a great spectacle that was.”

The British Boxing Board of Control’s the chief medical officer Neil Scott revealed after the fight that Clarke’s is an unusual injury to sustain in the ring. And he warned that it would feel very painful for the 33-year-old.

“It’s not common. We don’t see it that often at all,” Scott told Sky Sports. “Visually it looks alarming because you see someone essentially with a big dent on the side of their face.

“It must be extremely painful and it must be quite distressing as well. With the size of the glove it’s not something that we see in boxing. It must be a tremendous amount of power to do that. A tremendous amount.”