- Wardley and Clarke will fight for the heavyweight and commonwealth titles
- However, half of the ring for the highly-anticipated bout was stolen from a van
- The fight will still go ahead after last-minute efforts by event organisers
The highly-anticipated title fight between Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley was put into doubt after thieves stole the ring from a van.
Clarke and Wardley will finally settle their differences at the O2 Arena on Sunday night, with the latter’s British and Commonwealth titles on the line.
Similar to many big fights in the UK, Ringcraft, owned by Mike Goodall, will set up the ring for this bout.
However, Goodall took to social media to reveal that a van that contained half of the ring was stolen overnight.
He posted: ‘Identical sprinter to this stolen early hours of this morning 30/3/24 from hotel car park Canning Town area London …..contains half a boxing ring for Sunday nights Sky show Reward for Return.’
Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley will finally settle their differences at the O2 Arena on Sunday
The fight was thrown into doubt when a van containing half of the ring was stolen overnight
The missing half of the ring was not found but the show will fortunately still go ahead after Goodall revealed he has a replacement.
‘Still missing unfortunately, caused us a lot of problems, but we’ve got there in the finish,’ he said on Saturday evening.
Goodall then added: ‘Good job I’ve got another ring identical.
‘So once we got it to London with a few blood, sweat and tears, all built in The O2, ready to rumble. The show must go on.’
Clarke will hope to keep hold of his unbeaten record but Wardley, who hold a 16-0 record, believes the pressure is on his opponent.
‘I think he’s feeling the pressure of it all,’ he declared.
‘He’s even eluded to it a little bit. I think he’s used a lot of energy in the build-up to this fight, he used a lot of energy even in fight week.’