Matt Maher: Champ Lennox Clarke ready to shoot for the stars
Last week Lennox Clarke was told he had more chance of visiting the moon than becoming a British champion.
Yet today his feet remain firmly planted on Planet Earth, with the coveted Lonsdale belt taking pride of place in his Halesowen home.
Clarke’s stunning knockout of Willy Hutchinson – the man whose pre-fight prediction proved as inaccurate as his punches – in front of the BT Sport cameras on Saturday night did not so much upset the applecart as totally demolish it.
From rank outsider, not least with bookmakers who had him priced at 16-1 to win by stoppage, Clarke now finds himself a major player in the super-middleweight division.
“Pretty much everyone had written me off, so they can have that,” he chuckles. “I know I am a British level fighter and more. All I needed was a chance and once it came along, I wasn’t going to be denied.”
Moments like Saturday do not happen by luck. For Clarke, it was the culmination of countless hours of unseen work in the gym, together with years of maintaining head and heart through a professional career spent chiefly, until now, on the small hall circuit patiently waiting for the big opportunity to arrive.
Along the way there have been ups and downs, injuries to overcome and an ongoing battle with the lung disease sarcoidosis.
In December 2019 it looked like the moment might have passed him by when, having been handed a shot at the British title, he lost to Lerrone Richards on a split decision.
His first and still only defeat in the pro ranks, Clarke had been hindered by a shoulder injury which left him unable to throw his right hand for the duration of the fight. On Saturday, somewhat fittingly, it was those punches which first stunned Hutchinson and then sent him crashing to the canvas in the fifth round.
