British heavyweight prospect Frazer ‘The Eraser’ Clarke 7-0 (5) says watching WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24) face former UFC heavyweight champion and boxing debutant Francis Ngannou in a 10-round non-title bout holds little interest for him.
Fury, 34, announced this month he would meet the 36-year-old Ngannou in a boxing match in Saudi Arabia on October 28.
The English world champion, who has not fought since a 10th round knockout over gatekeep Derek Chisora 33-13 (23) in December last year in what amounted to little more than a stay-busy fight.
Fury was later in negotiations to face WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 20-0 (13) but despite the Ukrainian southpaw acquiescing to Fury’s demand of a 70-30 purse split in his favour, negotiations fell apart when the former undisputed cruiserweight champion requested a 50-50 split for the rematch should he be victorious in their first bout.
Usyk has since moved on and will now defend his unified championship against Britain’s Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois 19-1 (18) at the 43,000-capacity Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland on August 26.
With no obvious dance partner lined up, Fury decided the next best thing was a fight against Cameroonian-French mixed martial artist Ngannou.
Not everyone is impressed with the move. You can count amongst their number the 31-year-old Clarke, who won bronze in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
“To be honest, it is not really something I want to see,” Clarke wrote in his column for the Metro newspaper. “It is a spectacle and it will financially benefit everyone involved but we want to see boxing’s world championships being fought and challenged for.
“I understand it is easy money for Fury and whatever anyone says, that is what we are in the game for. But for me, it’s a bit of a circus.”
Clarke added that people are quickly tiring of Fury’s behaviour.
“He is that selective on who he wants to fight, when he wants to fight and for how much, that it becomes hard work,” he said. “People start to lose interest then and explore other options.”
Clarke lays some of the blame with the WBC, who have no apparent qualms about stalling the division after they granted Fury “special permission” to face a rank novice.
“Surely there comes a point where the WBC have to think about their own agenda and what is good for the sport and the optics,” he said.
“Because it is not a good look for them if their heavyweight champion goes off to fight an MMA fighter, possibly in an exhibition, when there is a queue of fighters in the top 10, top 15, waiting for their chance.
“They might not all be great fighters but that is the reason you have a rankings, people want to take on the number one. Serious questions need to be asked. There are fighters there who will be asking where is the mandatory fight.
“At the moment, I think Tyson has the WBC by the balls. He is calling the shots.”
