Wardley to target world stage after Clarke rematch

Fabio Wardley is undefeated in 18 fights as a professional

British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley has his sights set on moving into contention for a world title after his rematch with Frazer Clarke next month.

The pair battled to a split-decision draw at London's O2 Arena in April and will meet again in Riyadh on 12 October, on the undercard of Artur Berbetiev's world light-heavyweight showdown with Dmitry Bivol.

Wardley, from Ipswich, achieved the only knockdown in the first fight with Clarke, but suffered a bad cut to his nose, and is expecting another bruising contest.

"You can have all the plans you want, all the ideas and game plans, but once you get in there and punches start flying, base instincts start taking over and I think it might revert back to how it did in the first one," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"There was a lot to take from that fight. Doing 12 rounds, the full distance, at a pace like that - to know you have that in your locker is a good base level to look at.

"Just learning to manage yourself through the rounds and through the fight, I made some mistakes and errors, lack of concentration in certain areas, but they're all things me and the team have looked back on and put in place a fix.

"He'll be facing a much better Fabio Wardley going into the second fight."

The champion has fought in Saudi Arabia before, stopping David Adeleye in seven rounds on the undercard of Tyson Fury's points win over Francis Ngannou last October.

Wardley said beating Olympic bronze medallist Clarke would be a "huge win" as far as his future prospects are concerned.

"This is probably my last fight at British level to tick off and then within a fight or two I think I'll be in the world title standings," he added.

"It's about putting yourself in the right place for eliminators or world title shots, however they come about."

As part of his plan to achieve that goal, Wardley signed a multi-fight deal with Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions last month.

Wardley said: "You need the right promotion and the right promoter behind you to put you in those positions.

"He's been in the game for so so long, that level of experience is invaluable. He's been around the block 10 times over. He knows how to get things done."