Frazer Clarke, who won bronze for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics, will turn pro on the Amir Khan vs Kell Brook card on Feb. 19 in Manchester, England.
The 30-year-old Clarke was arguably most notable in Tokyo for a wild quarterfinal bout against France’s Mourad Aliev, where Aliev was disqualified in the second round for repeatedly leading with his head and holding, having already opened a cut on Clarke. Aliev made that a big deal by refusing to leave the ring area for quite a while, which was OK because it was the last bout of that session so it wasn’t exactly keeping anyone from going about their business.
Clarke lost in the semifinal to eventual gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov, who pretty much dominated the field. The Brit gave his best effort, but even if the cut hadn’t been working against him, it would have been a huge task anyway.
In November, Clarke signed with Anthony Joshua’s management company in preparation of going professional. Clarke has sparred with Joshua in the past and was a well-regarded amateur in the strong British system for quite a while. He’s also signed on with BOXXER, who are Sky Sports’ new in-house boxing brokers.
Given his age, the ceiling on Clarke is probably somewhat low, but he’s a big guy with some skills and should have a window to make some money and go for a shot at the top.