Fabio Wardley stuns Frazer Clarke with first-round knockout to defend British title | Boxing

Fabio Wardley scored a first-round knockout in his rematch against Frazer Clarke and defended his British heavyweight title in spectacular fashion. The pair went the full 12 rounds in their first fight at London's O2 Arena in March, which ended in a draw.

It turned out to be a far shorter affair in Riyadh – around two and a half minutes – on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol card. Wardley caught and hurt Clarke with a looping right hand, then sent him to the canvas with a fierce follow-up barrage. A dazed Clarke tried bravely to get up, but the referee waved him off.

Wardley, who won for the 18th time in 19 fights, said afterwards in the ring: “I always know that if I hurt someone, I can get rid of them.” I went into the last fight with a few problems. We fixed them, we found the right game plan, we put it together and executed it on the night.

“I have made enough assessments from the first battle to know that I can succeed in this war mode. We just had to be a little sweeter, put it together a little nicer, arrange things a little better and disguise them a little better. But I can't help it: war in name, war in nature. Once I have harmed my enemies, there is no help for them unless the bell rings.”

Chris Eubank Jr. was confronted by Conor Benn after his seventh-round middleweight victory over Poland's Kamil Szeremeta. Eubank Jr had already knocked his opponent down in rounds one and six when the fight was stopped, prompting Benn to jump into the ring.

As Brazilian striker Neymar, who plays for Saudi club Al Hilal, looked on in the ring, the two British fighters engaged in a heated exchange, at times putting their heads together and both saying: “Let's do it.”

Benn has not fought in the UK since he was suspended for failing two voluntary drug tests while preparing for his clash with Eubank Jr in October 2022, forcing the fight to be cancelled.

When asked when he would be allowed to fight again in his home country, Benn – who has been inactive apart from wins against Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson in the United States – told Dazn: “That will all be sorted out in the next few weeks. We hope to have an announcement next month, God willing.”

Raven Chapman was defeated by Australian WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicolson in the first women's world title fight held in Saudi Arabia. The Australian Nicolson triumphed in the historic competition with a unanimous decision.

Nicolson's compatriot Jai Opetaia defended his IBF cruiserweight title against Britain's Jack Massey, with the fight being stopped in round six.

A light heavyweight bout between Britain's Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron ended in a draw after both fell from the ring. Olympic silver medalist Whittaker left the arena in a wheelchair and was taken to hospital to be checked on his injured leg after he and Cameron held on to the ropes and fell across the surface.

Cameron was on top of Whittaker when they fell to the outside canvas near the end of the fifth round and Whittaker was unable to get up. The bout was stopped due to an accidental injury and declared a technical split draw, with Whittaker ahead 58-57 on one scorecard and Cameron ahead by the same score on another, and the third tied 58-58.

In the main event, Beterbiev unified the world light heavyweight titles via majority decision. Both fighters were previously undefeated before the fight in Riyadh, with the 33-year-old Bivol holding the WBA belt and the 39-year-old Beterbiev the reigning WBC, WBO and IBF champion.

The main clash at Kingdom Arena, postponed until June after Montreal-based Beterbiev suffered a knee injury, put the four recognized major belts in the hands of one man for the first time. The last undisputed light heavyweight champion was American Roy Jones Jr., who defeated Reggie Johnson in 1999 and unified the WBA, WBC and IBF belts.