Cheavon Clarke weighing up decision to turn pro after Team GB's boxing success

Cheavon Clarke is weighing up his next move after a draining Olympic experience, still carrying the disappointment of his early exit in Tokyo and yet still brimming with pride after a sensational summer for Team GB’s boxers.

Clarke was part of the 11-strong team sent out to Japan with insiders quietly confident of achieving something special with a deeply talented pool of fighters.

Those expectations were surpassed as they returned with a record haul of six medals, with golds for Galal Yafai and Lauren Price among them after an extraordinary campaign.  

Clarke saw his bid for a heavyweight medal come to an end at the round of 16 stage, losing a tight contest to Brazil’s Abner Teixeira. Due to strict Covid protocols in place throughout the Games, he was unable to stay in the Olympic village to cheer on his teammates, instead heading straight back to the UK to reflect.

‘It was a swift turnaround, the emotions were still fresh when I was getting on the plane home,’ Clarke told Metro.co.uk. ’But for me, that wasn’t a bad thing. I was devastated. I wanted to get home.

‘The emotion I’m still experiencing now is pretty much the same as the one on that flight home and I don’t think that will ever change.

‘I have spoken to people who found themselves in similar situations, I think that is just the way it is when you are a competitor. It just won’t change.’

Clarke’s Tokyo ambitions were clear having achieved success as a two-time European Championships medallist and a 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist. In the end, it wasn’t meant to be – as was the case with Caroline Dubois and Peter McGrail, two more medal prospects who missed out.

While there is a strong sense of what could have been, the success of the team must override personal disappointments, says Clarke, who believes the Tokyo medal haul may never be replicated again.

‘First and foremost, you support your teammates.

‘But at the same time, you are thinking, ‘man, we should have all been there.’

‘Our team was so good. People like Caroline Dubois, Peter McGrail, Charley Davison, we were all looking for medals too. But it is just the way the cards are played sometimes. And you’ve just got to manoeuvre around it and get on.

‘You have to congratulate the guys that made history, first and foremost. The best Olympic boxing team in 100 years. and I doubt it will ever get beaten. Those guys will forever be legends.’

Having been back home from three weeks, Clarke has taken some well-deserved time off after five years of grind.

But soon there will be a decision to make over the next step in his career, with the door now open to follow in the footsteps of fellow Olympians Anthony Joshua and Joe Joyce and turn over to the professional game.

While the recruitment drive is already heating up between the sport’s big promoters, Clarke is keeping his cards close to his chest for now. But he insists he is ready to navigate his way through the professional code and the politics that can come with it.

‘People have been calling, but I’m on a break right now!’ he continued. ‘I need time to chill, I’m boxed out from the last five years. I’m just letting the body rest up. But we will make a decision and go from there soon.

‘There are politics in everything we do. If that was the only issue, nothing would get done and nobody would get forward. You’ve just got to look at the cards you are dealt and play them accordingly. You have just got to be careful. I have not done it before so I will have to be careful and swim around the sharks.’

Like Clarke, Joe Joyce was 30 years old when his Olympic cycle ended after Rio 2016. The Putney fighter is now the mandatory challenger for Joshua’s WBO title and is a firm fixture in the heavyweight title scene.

While at a similar age, Clarke stresses his situation and that of Joyce’s five years ago are very different.

‘Joe is a special case. Let’s not forget he is an Olympic silver medallist who should have been a gold medallist. His path is a little different, he was able to maybe move a little bit faster than me in that sense.

‘It is good to see someone else has done it, its encouraging to know it can be done but there is only one Joe Joyce and there is certainly only one Cheavon Clarke.’

The Jamaican-born Olympian has been around the sport a long time, walking away briefly in 2014 to become a lorry driver but has a bright future once again despite this summer’s disappointment.

While he has not ruled out the possibility of another Olympic cycle ahead of Paris 2024, he believes he has the support and advice to make the right decision.

‘I’ve had guys call me up to show support, Kal Yafai, Sunny Edwards, guys calling and reaching out to show love. Joe Cordina too, I even spoke to Luke Campbell recently and Tony Bellew,’ he said.

‘The avenues are there for advice. If and when I want to do that, I have the resources to make the right decisions.’

GB athlete, Cheavon Clarke has partnered with Birds Eye Green Cuisine range, which helps ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. The Birds Eye Green Cuisine range includes meat-free meatballs, grilled chicken pieces, burgers and sausages. The products are made from pea protein, so are rich in fibre and protein, as well as being a good source of iron.

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