Eddie Hearn has insisted he "loves" Frazer Clarke and only cropped the heavyweight star out of his UFC London Instagram post because he wanted to zoom in.
The Matchroom Boxing kingpin was cageside with British heavyweights Derek Chisora and Anthony Joshua, UFC president Dana White and newly-turned professional Clarke at The O2 on Saturday night. Hearn later posted an photo of the group - but cropped out Olympic medalist Clarke.
But Hearn claimed there was no malice behind it and confirmed he had "love" for the recent 2020 Olympic medalist. "On the Frazer Clarke post, it was only because I had to do the close-up; I love big Fraze," Hearn said on Instagram. "We had a photo of me, Dana, AJ and Derek but I did just crop Frazer out... but it's all love."
Clarke had posted a comical response to being left out of the star-studded picture, super-imposing his current promoter Ben Shalom's face over Hearn's when posting his own picture on social media from the event. He comically added: "I’m a small fish, at the UFC last night with the elite. Thank you Dana White, you know how to put on a show."
The 30-year-old recently made his professional debut under the BOXXER banner on Sky Sports promoted by Shalom after a long journey to the professional ranks. Clarke defeated Jake Darnell in a huge mismatch on the undercard of Amir Khan's grudge match with Kell Brook last month.
He made the step up after winning a bronze medal at the Rio 2020 Olympic Games which became the highlight of his huge amateur pedigree. Despite making the jump in level late, he and promoter Shalom are eyeing a fast rise towards world-level.
Clarke planned to take to the ring again on March 26 against in a at the OVO Wembley Arena, but will now face a spell of up to three months on the sidelines after having surgery on a hand injury. He explained his frustrations but is planning to come back stronger later this year.
"I'm gutted to sustain this injury, but it is part and parcel of boxing and these things happen through no fault of anyone," Clarke said. "Thankfully during my time in boxing I've met some great people to point me in the right direction and I've now been fixed up, operated on, the operation went really well and I'm healing well. I'll come back stronger and I'll use this time really well to develop in other areas. I'll be back in no time and pick up where I left off."
