Samuel Clarkson (15-3, 9 KOs) knew he was coming into this last Friday’s fight as the B-side. It all started from the negotiation process of the contract. The contracted weight kept fluctuating, and the possibility for a small title was on the line, and then quickly taken off. Despite knowing he was the underdog, Clarkson trained as if he knew this would be his moment. Clarkson continuously put on social media how ready he was and how motivated and determined he was to deliver a shocker to his opponent Jerry Odom (13-2, 12 KOs).
The disadvantages of being the B-side fighter continued as Clarkson attempted to make his way to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When he could have just been flown out of Dallas, which is much closer, Clarkson and his team had to start their journey with a four hour drive to Houston to catch their first flight.
Then due to a cancellation of his straight shot flight, Clarkson flew to La Guardia airport in New York and from there headed to Manhattan. From Manhattan, Clarkson flew to Newark, New Jersey. From Newark, the team made their final destination in Bethlehem at 3:00 am, Thursday morning.
“I lost a whole day’s worth of training and weight cutting. I was forced to wake up super early and force my body to just sweat until it couldn’t sweat anymore,” Clarkson told Round By Round Boxing.
The day of the weigh in, Clarkson came in four pounds over. “Really it was three pounds, we were contracted at 169 pounds. But I was still over, whatever. They could have pulled the fight, but they didn’t. They gave both of us the opportunity to rehydrate back up to our normal weight. They just looked at my three losses and thought they were going to go right through me,” Clarkson said.
Despite being over the weight limit and tired from the day’s travels before, Clarkson was confident, he was loud and definitely not intimidated.
“Odom was broke from the weigh ins,” Clarkson said. “They weren’t used to a B-side fighter coming to win.”
Clarkson took out Odom in three rounds, down once in Round 1 and down twice in Round 2. There was no real obvious weight difference between the two. Clarkson didn’t look massively bigger than Odom. Clarkson was the better man that night, and despite getting the win, he has yet to get the credit he deserves.
Odom’s team and manager released a statement Monday morning that the weight was a bigger issue than they thought. Odom’s manager contemplated pulling the fight, but they were confident in their fighter’s abilities. Simply underestimating Clarkson was their biggest mistake, and now they’re forced to find excuses and seek a rematch.
“I know I’m not gonna get the credit I deserve. I don’t see why I need to give Odom a rematch. I had to earn my way to get there. I seized the moment and I capitalized on the opportunity. I don’t feel I need to give him the satisfaction. Now, I feel Odom and his team need to go back to the drawing board and they need to climb the ladder, exactly like I did,” said Clarkson.
Clarkson is enjoying his victory but he’s already back in the gym. Staying ready for whatever comes next is what’s on Clarkson’s mind, but he knows it definitely won’t be the rematch with Odom.
“A rematch will be pointless, I don’t gain anything from it. I’m happy with my performance and I worked hard for it. They should have never doubted me,” said Clarkson.
[slideshow_deploy id=’45210′] All photos by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
