Some reckon it an upset, others aren't so surprised. But Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva scored the biggest win of his career in Derby this afternoon, upsetting Frazer Clarke to claim the vacant British heavyweight title by split decision.
In a fight that reportedly saw both men run out of steam well before the halfway point, Tshikeva (9-2, 5 KO) had the biggest moment of the night with a crushing left hook midway through the 11th. Clarke (9-2-1, 7 KO) somehow managed to survive, but despite benefiting from a point deduction thanks to Tshikeva’s low blows, couldn’t do enough to sway two of the three judges.
It’s hard to see this as anything other than the end of the road for Clarke. The 2020 Olympian turned pro past the age of 30 and looked to make up for lost time with an expedited rise, but got blown to bits by Fabio Wardley in last year’s rematch. While that defeat aged as well as any, looking this poor against a middling domestic talent like Tshikeva is a career death sentence if I’ve ever seen one.
As for Tshikeva, he’s got a plethora of options. A rematch with David Adeleye after their controversial first meeting this past April would make sense, or perhaps a clash with stablemate Hughie Fury .
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