By Charles Brun: In a strange match-up, British heavyweight Frazer Clarke will face 43-year-old Mariusz ‘The Viking’ Wach (36-9, 19 KO’s) next month on June 16th at York Hall in London. The Clarke-Wach fight will be shown on Sky Sports.
The 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Clarke, 31, is just starting his professional career, but you would think he would be matched up against a better opponent than this, given his age.
Clarke had been planning on facing Fabio Wardley, but his promoter opted to go in another direction. Unfortunately, Wach is the guy he wanted.
With Clarke’s amateur pedigree, it’s disappointing to see his promotional team bring him along so slowly by matching him against the washed 18-year professional. Wach has lost four out of his last five fights and hasn’t won a fight since 2020, when he beat journeyman Kevin Johnsson.
Wach has been around forever, having started his career in 2005 and battled former world champions Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin and lost to them.
“I’m glad that we’re finally able to announce this fight and let people see the kind of challenges I’m looking for,” said Clarke.
“Mariusz Wach is a very tough opponent; his record speaks for itself – look at the names he’s been in there with and the kind of fights he’s had with them. So I hope it’s clear to everyone now that Frazer Clarke isn’t afraid of anyone.”
The 6’7″ Wach has similar power and hand speed as Clarke, but his age and the wear & tear from his long career make him a poor choice. As the saying goes, ‘The last thing to go is power.’
Wach can probably still punch, and if he connects with something big on Clarke’s chin, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him get knocked out. Clarke isn’t exactly the hardest guy to hit; he is so incredibly slow of hand.
Wach is also slow, but he at least has an excuse because of his age. Clarke is still young at 31, and he’s going to have a tough time of it. That could be the reason why his promoter is matching him so weakly.
If this was the 2019 version of Wach that gave an out-of-shape 270+ lb Dillian Whyte massive problems in December 2019, Clarke would be in trouble. Wach punished Whyte in that fight and had him sounding punch drunk after the contest.
Clarke is coming off a second round knockout win over Bogdan Dinu last March. Before that, he had wins over Kevin Espindola, Kamil Sokołowski, and Pencho Tsvetkov.
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