Clarke vs Tshikeva Predictions: British belt on the Beeb for the big boys

Olympic bronze medalist Frazer Clarke takes on Jeamie TKV Tshikeva this Saturday, November 29 for the vacant British heavyweight championship. The bout goes out live on BBC Two, the national broadcaster’s first foray into professional boxing in 20 years. The heavyweight contest goes down at the Vaillant Arena in Derby.  

Read on for my Clarke vs Tshikeva predictions.

Clarke vs Tshikeva Odds

TKV is the underdog here at 9/2. You can get 2/11 for the Clarke win, with most of the value coming in predicting when and how the Olympian triumphs. The draw is priced at 16/1.

Clarke vs Tshikeva Fight Preview

“It’s a chance to put your name into the history books.”

“These are the fights that people dream of doing.”

Clarke and TKV respectively, speaking to me in the build-up to this fight, summed up what fighting for the British heavyweight title on the first pro boxing card on the BBC in 20 years means to them. Their words sell the fight better than any marketing man or boxing journalist could. 

For Clarke it is a third crack at the Lord Lonsdale belt, having drawn one and lost one with new WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley. Their first meeting was a fiery 12-rounder in Greenwich that was a real contender for 2024’s Fight of the Year. Their second saw Clarke shockingly knocked out in one brutal round, suffering a gruesome jaw injury in the process. From parity to emergency.

But Clarke was not deterred. He repaired and rebuilt, taking his frustrations out on gatekeeper Ebenezer Tetteh in one savage round in May. “He was never gonna take me rounds” was Clarke’s succinct summation in another chat I had with him.

The Wardley bouts have not dampened the Olympian’s appetite for destruction. Axl Rose would be proud. When asked whether we are in for another war, ‘Big Fraze’ fancied it. “Stylistically it might go there. It’s going to catch fire, I’m sure of it.” 

It is a view his rival shares. Tshikeva, professionally known as simply Jeamie TKV, invoked his own flaming-hot analogy when telling me “Expect fireworks, man. Expect excitement.” 

TKV has suffered his own disappointment when pursuing this championship. In April, TKV faced previous champion David Adeleye inside Manchester’s Co-op Arena. Jeamie was acquitting himself well until the sixth round. Referee Ron Kearney called for a break during a clinch. He pulled TKV’s glove down, exposing him to a brutal left hook that sent him straight to the canvas. 

Unbelievably, rather than either disqualify Adeleye if he deemed the act deliberate, or issuing a warning if he judged that the champion had not heard him, Kearney administered a count on TKV. The challenger rose but never recovered, losing via stoppage seconds later.

The physical pain has faded but the result still understandably sticks in TKV’s craw. When asked whether getting a second shot at the title rights the wrong, Jeamie told me, “The fact I was still considered to fight for the British title, it is justice. The board ordered a rematch, he wasn’t interested in a rematch. He decided to vacate and move on. But we’ll circle back.”

Hammering the point home, Tshikeva added, “No matter when and where, we’ll find a way. We’ll definitely get that rematch”.

But for now, Clarke is the opposition that TKV has to worry about and vice versa. Clarke was customarily definitive when asked how this fight goes. “These fists are gonna go flying and I’m gonna bring that belt home”. He gives the air of a man who does his job and does it well. A professional. Efficient with his words and his fists.

For TKV, this fight is about more than the belt or the Beeb. Its origins stretch back to when Clarke commentated on one of his previous fights. Jeamie tells it best;

“They asked, ‘what do you think of Jeamie TKV?’. Instead of saying ‘yeah okay that was a good fight, well done to him’ he dismissed me, disrespecting me saying I was a tune-up fight for him after his injury. I said ‘if I’m a tune-up fight then fight me now’. That’s where the beef started.”

For his part, Clarke does not seem to imbue their early enmity with any importance. “It was literally squabbles. Nothing. I made a comment when I was commentating about him. He didn’t like it so he said a few things. He had a few of his pals tweeting me and talking sh*t to me. That’s all sticks and stones. All that internet talk, I couldn’t give a sh*t about any of that. Let’s turn up, get in the ring and fight each other.”

Ultimately, after an injury to TKV pushed this fight from October to November, that is exactly what is going to happen. To the surprise of no one, each fighter sees this historic terrestrial tussle ending differently.

Clarke promises and action-packed, career-defining night. “These fists are gonna go flying and I’m gonna bring that belt home.”

TKV’s own prediction obviously differs, with the co-challenger telling me, “I’m knocking out Frazer Clarke. There’s no other way around it. I’m knocking him out. I’m putting him on his arse.”

A big prime time audience. A historic championship belt. A bit of needle. BOXXER’s BBC debut promises a proper, old-school night in front of the box.