If you are an avid watcher of boxing, you’ll probably admit to falling into a familiar trap. It is easy to become desensitised at times, with violence gradually beginning to bring a strange mundanity. When Frazer Clarke was knocked out by Fabio Wardley in October, many fans were freed from that trap, although freedom felt rather frightening.
As Clarke’s eyes glazed over, and the heavyweight’s crushed cheekbone collapsed into itself, a stark reality was rendered: this sport hurts, it is dangerous, and it is unforgiving. And if you were one of those to have felt that unnerving quease in the aftermath of Clarke’s first-round defeat by Wardley, imagine – if you can – how Clarke’s family felt.
