Frazer Clarke vs Rydell Booker Preview March 25th, 2023
Unbeaten Frazer Clarke, who won a bronze medal for England as a super heavyweight at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, will be taking a step up in class on Saturday, March 25th when he meets Rydell Booker of Detroit, Michigan. The eight-rounder from Manchester Arena can be seen live on Sky Sports Action in the UK. Booker last fought in December when he stopped Norman Neely in just 43 seconds while Clarke last saw action in January when he halted Kevin Espindola in the fourth round.
Clarke vs Booker Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Rydell Booker +800
- Frazer Clarke -1500
My Pick
Booker is now 42 years old and he enters the bout with a mark of 27-7-1 with 14 Ko’s. He turned pro back in 2001 after an excellent amateur career with several cruiserweight titles to his name and was once rated the top amateur heavyweight in America. He built up a 22-1 record as a pro by 2004 with his only loss coming at the hands of James Toney by unanimous decision in a shot at the vacant WBC Continentals America and vacant IBA Heavyweight Crowns.
However, he then ran afoul of the law and was jailed from Sept. 9, 2005 to Aug. 9, 2017 for possession of cocaine and intent to deliver more than 1000 grams. He started his comeback in February, 2018 with a six-round unanimous decision over Rodney Moore and this will be his 12th fight since stepping back into the ring five years ago. He’s been inconsistent in his comeback though with a mark of 5-6-1. These include decisions over Moore, Terrell Woods and Domonic Jenkins while stopping Dieuly Aristidle in three rounds and Norman Neely in one.
His losses since 2018 have been by decision to Jermaine Franklin, Kubrat Pulev, Stephan Shaw, Marcin Siwy and Otto Wallin while he was stopped in five rounds by Filip Hrgovic and he drew with Ray Austin. Booker’s won just one of his last seven fights and his loss to Hrgovic in 2020 came in a shot at the vacant IBF International Heavyweight Title. Booker stands 6-feet-3-inches tall with a 79-inch reach, has boxed 181 rounds as a pro and has below average power with a current knockout ratio of 40 per cent.
As for Clarke, the 31-year-old has a perfect mark of 5-0 with 4 Ko’s and has just 14 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2022. He’s stopped Jake Darnell in one round, Ariel Bracamonte in two, Pencho Tsvetkov in one and Kevin Espinodla in four while being taken the six-round distance by Kamil Sokolowski. Clarke’s opponents entered the ring with a combined record of 36-40 so he’s definitely taking a step up in class against Booker.
Clarke stands 6-feet-6-inches tall with an unlisted reach which gives him a three-inch edge in height over Booker. He’s shown pretty good power as a pro, although against limited opposition as his current knockout ratio stands at 80 per cent. Clarke won numerous medals as an amateur and has wins over Lenier Pero, Sergey Kuzmin and Tony Yoka but was stopped by Joe Joyce a couple of times as well as being beaten on points by Joyce. He also lost decisions to Yoka, Joseph Parker, Otto Wallin and Anthony Joshua.
Prediction…
Booker is an aging but pretty durable heavyweight who has a good chin and should test Clarke’s abilities, which is what he needs. Clarke needs to step up the level of opposition and this should be a decent test and one which he can’t really afford to fail. I’m expecting Clarke to pull out a win in this heavyweight showdown.
I’ll give Clarke the edge here as he’s 11 years younger.
Play Clarke -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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Frazer Clarke betting • Rydell Booker betting