Heavyweight contender Frazer Clarke is moving past the recent fallout of his proposed title fight with British champion Fabio Wardley.
Wardley had been ordered to face Clarke by the end of September.
The contest was heading to a purse bid, but at the late hour the Olympic silver medal winner was pulled from the fight by his promoter, Boxxer.
Clarke is scheduled to return to the ring on Friday night, when he faces Polish giant Mariusz Wach at York Hall in London.
“I was over the moon at the news that I was the mandatory to fight Fabio Wardley but then as that situation got about ten days in I had to make some difficult phone calls. I was led to the illusion that my promoter (BOXXER) and broadcaster (Sky) weren’t happy with the fight going to purse bids,” Clarke explained to The Daily Mail.
“They felt that I wasn’t experienced enough to take the fight at this stage in my career because I haven’t done the rounds yet and so they strongly advised me to pull out of the fight which I never wanted to do.
“But in the end the decision was made for me and they went ahead and did that. It was something I was really gutted about and something that is probably going to live with me for a while, I’m probably still not over it. But we have got Wach now and I just want to move on and focus on that.”
However, Clarke is still hoping that a fight comes off with Wardley.
He hopes to face Wardley before the year is out, but for now the full focus is being placed on Wach – who rarely gets stopped and fought numerous top heavyweights throughout his career.
‘Yeah, behind the scenes there are some talks between [Boxxer CEO] Ben [Shalom] and Fabio’s team but I’ve learned from the situation a few weeks ago,’ Clarke continued.
‘I’ve got to concentrate on my next fight and worry about that after because you don’t want to get too ahead of yourself in boxing as I’ve learned the hard way.’