Brutal but brilliant British heavyweight title fight restores boxing’s good name

1. Sport
2. Boxing

In an era of contrived fights featuring D-list celebrities, Saturday’s British heavyweight title fight marked the welcome return of boxing at its best

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Jeamie TKV is the new British heavyweight champion after a split decision win in a brawl against Frazer Clarke. The raw statistics will never be enough to tell the story of 12 relentless rounds of fighting.

At midnight on Saturday night, inside the Vaillant Live in Derby, Clarke wanted to speak to his mother, and TKV was still trying a lopsided and painful grin. It was a study of contrasts and suffering. And they did both suffer during and after their bruising, bad-tempered and personal fight.

At the end of twelve rounds, they were both exhausted, unsteady on their legs and bruised. TKV’s right eye was nearly closed, and Clarke was spitting out dark blood. It was close, but the right man got the vote.

The fight was the first seen across primetime BBC for over 20 years, and it was a harsh reminder of just how savage, brutal and brilliant the noble art can be. It was also too hard, especially for Clarke during the last two desperate rounds.

Right now, there is a lot of idle talk about boxing losing its edge, contrived fights, choreographed exhibitions and D-list celebrities slapping each other, but Clarke and TKV restored the sport’s good name on a massive night.

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It was not always pretty, but it was impossible to turn away, especially as the later rounds slowed the pair down, and they each took long and powerful swings at each other. It was a unique night of pain and sacrifice for BBC 2; forget staged drama, this was a real story played out over 36 minutes of action.

There is a process and reason for winning the British heavyweight title, one of the sport’s sacred crowns; the Lonsdale belt, which the winner temporarily holds in victory, remains the finest belt in a boxing world of vulgar offerings. The real prize is the move up boxing’s invisible but slippery ladder to the bright lights of the heavyweight promised land.

It is not such a far-off location in modern times. It was once out of bounds to British heavyweights, but that has all changed; during the last ten years, seven British heavyweight champions have fought for versions of the world heavyweight title and four have won the title. It has been a glorious time and, sadly, too many great nights and fights have gone under the radar; the BBC’s return adds to the richness of the sport at the moment.

Obviously, the BBC screened the major fights of two other British heavyweight world champions, Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno. Saturday’s fight was in the right place, the perfect return to the sport for the channel – I might be biased, I was part of the BBC team on the night!

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The fight went both ways in the first six or so rounds. They were both scoring with big shots, both backing the other up and both being backed up. It was attritional early, hard, and there were a lot of infringements. In the third, TKV was docked a point for persistent low blows. Clarke was also guilty of stray shots, some wandering very low. They each used their elbows, their bulks and both hit and held on occasion. It was just gruelling, a fierce fight with a lot of pride.

In close, TKV was able to find just enough space and the timing to repeatedly land with a short and damaging left hook. It became the symbol of his victory, and Clarke seemed unable to defend against it. It is too easy to say that Clarke fought the wrong fight, got too close and allowed TKV to take over each time they were in a clinch. He did, but that ignores what TKV did and how he kept it close, denying Clarke room to move.

Clarke admitted that he got his tactics wrong; TKV talked all week about what he would do, and he did. It might have just looked like a simple brawl between the two very big heavyweights, but it was a lot smarter than that. And TKV, the man from Tottenham, was the smarter boxer on the night, but had entered as the underdog. There was also a sensible thought before the fight that Clarke, with his Olympic pedigree, would be too clever on the night. Clarke got sucked in; TKV was at home, up close and very personal.

The scores were 115-113 and 115-112 for TKV, with one of 115-112 for Clarke. They could barely stand straight when the decision was announced, so total was their commitment to the belt. The winner and the loser will now take a long break and then move on.

A rematch is possible, and that would do good business anywhere. It was a wild night, a night that both men will need a lot of time to recover from. Their rematch, assuming it is at 8pm, will have to come with a parental warning. It was not a night for the squeamish.

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