THE MAN BEHIND THE MATCHES
Matt Clark entered boxing with a letter and a love of the sport. More than two decades later, the Tasman Fighters director is helping shape the careers of Australia’s emerging talent — and challenging the idea that losing should define them.
By Finn Sloane | CLINCH Magazine
In 2002, Matt Clark wanted to work in boxing.
He didn’t have a famous surname, a professional fighting career or a ready-made route into the industry. What he had was an interest that had followed him since childhood, an address he had found on the internet, and enough determination to write a letter.
The letter was addressed to Australian boxing promoter Jamie Myer.
Clark was around 21. He had grown up watching boxing on television with his father, captivated by the fighters, the atmosphere and the spectacle. Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and the great contests of the era had made an impression that never really left him.
He couldn’t box himself, he admits. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t find a place in the sport.
Myer called him back.
What followed wasn’t glamorous. Clark began putting posters in shop windows and doing the miscellaneous jobs that keep a domestic boxing promotion functioning.
There were no bright lights in those early assignments. No world championships. Just work.
But Myer gradually took him under his wing, teaching him the side of boxing that television audiences rarely see.
The economics of staging a fight. The importance of ticket sales. The tables that need filling, the opponents who need finding, and the calculations that determine whether a show can happen at all.
Watching a major promotion from Las Vegas was one thing. Building a fight night in a local hall was another.
Clark learned the difference.
More than two decades later, he is Director of Boxing at Tasman Fighters, working alongside founder Mick Francis and helping guide a stable that includes established international names and emerging Australian talent.
His responsibilities range from identifying fighters and negotiating opportunities to matchmaking and dealing with sanctioning organisations.
Francis, he is quick to clarify, still has the final say. It is Francis’s company.
But when something concerns the boxing itself, Clark is generally the man expected to find an answer.
And despite everything the sport has shown him, he still sounds remarkably like the young man who wrote that letter.
He simply loves boxing.
THE VALUE OF A LOSS
There is something Matt Clark would like boxing to reconsider.
Its relationship with defeat.
Professional boxing has long placed extraordinary value on an undefeated record. A single loss can alter a fighter’s marketability, change public perceptions and sometimes prompt people to dismiss years of development.
Clark believes the sport has allowed that thinking to become excessive.
He points to other professional sports. Football teams lose matches throughout a season and can still finish as premiers. Supporters celebrate the championship without dwelling on every defeat along the way.
Yet boxing, he argues, often treats a loss as something far more permanent.
For Clark, the consequence is predictable. If protecting a record becomes the priority, the incentive to accept genuinely competitive fights begins to disappear.
And if the audience can confidently identify the winner of every contest before the opening bell, what exactly is it paying to watch?
He admires the UFC’s willingness to match competitors against meaningful opposition, accepting that upsets are part of the entertainment.
It’s an approach he believes Tasman has adopted.
That doesn’t mean sending inexperienced fighters into contests they have no business accepting. Clark is emphatic about the importance of development.
But development, in his view, must eventually involve uncertainty.
Sometimes a matchmaker has to look at a contest and believe his fighter can win without being entirely certain that he will.
That’s where a meaningful test begins.
It is also where a fighter learns something that another routine victory might never teach them.
MORE THAN AN OPPONENT
Max McIntyre offers an example of how Clark approaches that process.
The unbeaten Australian super-middleweight has been developed through a succession of contests designed to test more than his ability to throw punches.
Clark explains that different opponents provide different technical challenges. Southpaws, orthodox fighters, aggressive pressure fighters and more measured boxers each demand adjustments.
But he also considers something less obvious: where a fighter appears on the card.
McIntyre was placed close to a Jai Opetaia world-title contest when he fought for an IBF youth championship. The occasion brought a different kind of pressure for a young fighter.
In subsequent appearances, Tasman moved him into different positions on the programme.
The intention was deliberate.
A fighter might be comfortable opening a show but struggle with the expectations of appearing immediately before a world champion. Another might handle the ring itself beautifully but find the responsibility of headlining difficult.
Clark wants his fighters to experience those circumstances before the stakes become even greater.
On December 4, McIntyre is scheduled to travel to Claudelands in Hamilton, New Zealand, to face Francis Waitai in a twelve-round super-middleweight contest, with regional championship honours at stake.
It represents another step: an experienced opponent, a longer scheduled distance and an audience likely to favour the local fighter.
Clark regards it as an appropriate challenge.
He also acknowledges that matchmaking can never eliminate uncertainty.
There is no formula that guarantees when a young fighter is ready. A manager can examine performances, experience, styles and circumstances, but ultimately a contest must still be fought.
And the fighter must have a say.
Clark recalls occasions when he has advised against an opportunity because he believed it had arrived too early.
Sometimes the fighter has wanted it anyway.
His job, he says, is to explain the risks and provide the best advice he can.
It isn’t to take ownership of somebody else’s career.
WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
For all the talk of developing fighters and creating opportunities, one of the most difficult experiences of Clark’s career came after a fighter had achieved something extraordinary.
On March 5, 2016, Lucas Browne travelled to Grozny, Chechnya, and stopped Ruslan Chagaev in the tenth round to claim the WBA regular heavyweight championship.
It was an enormous result for Australian boxing.
Clark was there as Browne’s manager.
The victory came in an intimidating environment, far from home, against an established champion. Clark remembers the experience vividly, including the unusual atmosphere surrounding the celebrations.
But what should have been the beginning of a triumphant period became something very different.
Browne subsequently returned an adverse test for clenbuterol, a prohibited substance.
In May, the WBA ordered the contest treated as a no-contest for its championship purposes, removed Browne’s title recognition and imposed a six-month suspension.
Browne maintained that he had not knowingly taken the substance. His team pointed to a negative test conducted before the fight and challenged the handling of the matter.
Clark remembers the period as one of the hardest of his professional life.
The emotional distance between winning a heavyweight championship and fighting to defend a boxer’s reputation was immense.
There were conversations across time zones, legal questions, media demands and very little sleep.
Clark recalls the team pursuing legal action against the WBA, arguing that Browne had not been afforded a fair opportunity to present his case.
In September 2016, the WBA issued a further resolution acknowledging that intentional or voluntary ingestion of the substance was unlikely in the circumstances. Browne was again eligible to pursue a championship opportunity.
That did not mean every consequence of the original finding was reversed. The championship he had lost was not simply handed back.
But for Clark, the outcome mattered.
He had been part of the extraordinary high of that night in Chechnya, then spent months dealing with the consequences that followed.
Browne subsequently became involved in a separate anti-doping case, another deeply difficult episode for those around him.
Clark does not pretend the two incidents were the same.
He remembers the second with particular disappointment, while describing the first as a fight his team believed it had to undertake.
A decade later, the experience still affects him.
Asked about the hardest decisions he has made in boxing, this is where his mind eventually goes.
Not to an opponent who was too dangerous or a negotiation that fell apart.
To the responsibility of standing beside a fighter when the consequences reach far beyond the ring.
A FIGHTER IS NOT A RECORD
The same outlook shapes Clark’s assessment of Ben Mahoney.
In August, Mahoney fought Nikita Tszyu in a twelve-round IBF super-welterweight eliminator on the Gold Coast.
The contest ended in a split draw.
Clark was in Mahoney’s corner and believes his fighter did enough to win. From his position close to the action, he felt Mahoney’s body punching and other work deserved greater recognition.
Clark’s broader point is not simply about who should have received the decision.
It is about what the contest demonstrated.
Mahoney entered as the underdog. He left having shown he belonged in that company.
His reputation, Clark believes, improved because he accepted a difficult fight and performed.
That matters more to him than the absence of another victory in the record column.
As for what comes next, Clark says he has personally received no formal direction from the IBF concerning Mahoney’s position following the draw. He cannot rule out communication elsewhere within Tasman.
Nor, he says, have there been discussions about arranging an immediate rematch.
Tasman remains open to one.
In the meantime, Clark hopes Mahoney can secure another opportunity before the end of 2026, potentially internationally. If that doesn’t materialise, an early 2027 return is the expectation.
There is also a young family to consider.
Mahoney’s responsibilities don’t disappear when he leaves the gym, and Clark recognises the importance of allowing fighters time away from the demands of the sport.
It is another reminder that the people he manages are not merely names on a fight card.
BUILDING SOMETHING THAT LASTS
Tasman Fighters has ambitions beyond its next event.
Clark says a new television agreement is expected to be announced, providing another platform for the company’s fighters.
He is careful not to disclose the details before they are official.
But he is clear about the direction.
He and Mick Francis want to continue identifying talent, developing fighters through competitive contests and building a promotional operation that isn’t dependent on one headline attraction.
Clark has seen the vulnerability of a business built around a single star.
Fighters get injured. Careers end. Opportunities change.
If a promotion has nobody ready to step forward, its future becomes uncertain.
His preferred model is a continuing succession of talent.
At one level are established names such as Jai Opetaia and Justis Huni. Behind them are fighters approaching significant opportunities, including Mahoney. Further down are developing prospects such as McIntyre, Tyler Blizzard and others preparing for their own moment.
For Huni, Clark discusses a possible Brisbane appearance in February 2027, although no bout is being announced.
That process also involves introducing fighters to the responsibilities of headlining.
Daniel Keating, Clark explains, is being given that experience on an upcoming Tasman show.
For Clark, the position on the card is itself part of the education.
The company’s ambitions also extend beyond Australia.
In an interview with CLINCH Magazine, Clark confirmed that Tasman has signed undefeated Filipino lightweight Criztian Pitt “Golden Boy” Laurente, with the IBF Pan Pacific champion expected to appear on a Tasman card in December.
Laurente represents the kind of international talent Clark believes can strengthen the stable.
He also identifies Freddie Zziwa as another young fighter whose development presents a different challenge.
Clark describes Zziwa as a powerful puncher and says securing willing domestic opponents has become increasingly difficult.
In his view, Tasman may need to look overseas to find the appropriate tests.
The intention isn’t simply to collect unbeaten records.
It’s to give fighters the experience they need, even when finding the right opponent requires additional work and expense.
Clark is proud of what Tasman has assembled, particularly given what he describes as a significant financial and promotional disadvantage compared with larger operations.
He praises Francis’s investment in the production of their events, arguing that the quality of the presentation and the competitiveness of the fights are central to the company’s identity.
And he believes the organisation has considerably more to achieve.
KNOWING WHEN TO LET GO
Not every fighter remains with the same promoter throughout a career.
Clark accepts that as part of the business.
Asked about Sam Goodman, who appeared on Tasman cards before pursuing a different promotional pathway, Clark is philosophical.
He notes that he joined Tasman around the time Goodman was leaving and was not personally responsible for the entirety of that earlier relationship.
But his position on fighters moving elsewhere is straightforward.
If a contract has expired and an athlete chooses another direction, he wishes them well.
There is little value, he believes, in holding a grudge.
Boxing is a small industry. Relationships endure, careers change and people inevitably cross paths again.
He points to Tasman’s recent signing of Jack Bowen as an example of the process working in the other direction: a fighter developed elsewhere who is now beginning another chapter with a different organisation.
Clark sees no contradiction.
A manager’s responsibility is to help a fighter progress while they are working together, not to regard that fighter as personal property.
It’s an outlook consistent with the way he talks about matchmaking.
The athlete is the one who climbs through the ropes.
The athlete is the one who accepts the risk.
And ultimately, the career belongs to them.
WHAT MANDATORY MEANS
At the end of our conversation, Clark is asked a question CLINCH puts to its interview subjects.
What does mandatory mean?
His answer is immediate.
“Mandatory means you have to.”
For someone whose professional life includes dealing with boxing’s sanctioning organisations, the word carries practical consequences.
A leading contender earns an opportunity. A champion has obligations. A promoter must understand the rules governing both.
But when asked what he would change about boxing, Clark moves beyond individual title orders.
He returns first to the issue that has threaded through almost every part of our conversation.
The sport’s treatment of defeat.
He wants fighters to be judged on their performances, the quality of their opposition and the totality of their careers, rather than dismissed after one difficult night.
He also wants the sanctioning organisations to work more effectively towards identifying the best fighter in each weight division.
Clark suggests that periodic tournaments, or a system allowing champions to be recognised in rival organisations’ rankings, could help produce more unification contests.
He isn’t presenting a completed regulatory blueprint.
He is expressing the frustration of a lifelong boxing supporter who believes the sport should make it easier to establish who its champions really are.
There was a time, he recalls, when even relatively casual followers could name the leading champions across the divisions.
Today, with multiple organisations and titles, the picture can be far less straightforward.
Clark doesn’t necessarily object to the existence of modern weight divisions.
What concerns him is the difficulty of consistently bringing the leading fighters together.
The objective, in his view, should remain simple.
Find out who is best.
And let them fight.
STILL IN LOVE WITH BOXING
The conversation eventually returns to the future.
Tasman has more fighters to develop, more cards to stage and a television announcement Clark believes will help take the company forward.
There will be difficult negotiations. Fighters will win and lose. Some will leave. Others will arrive.
There will be contests that go exactly as planned and others that remind everyone how little control a promoter really has once the opening bell sounds.
Clark understands all of that.
He has experienced the unglamorous work of domestic promotion, the extraordinary satisfaction of a world championship victory and the professional heartbreak that can follow it.
He has seen what boxing can give people.
And what it can take away.
Yet when the interview runs longer than expected, he doesn’t sound impatient to finish.
He is happy to keep talking.
It is a small detail, but an illuminating one.
More than twenty years after writing a letter to a promoter whose address he found on the internet, Matt Clark is still fascinated by the same sport he watched with his father.
Only now, instead of watching the fights being made, he helps make them.
And if he gets his way, more of those fights will be the kind where nobody knows the winner in advance.
Because for Matt Clark, that uncertainty isn’t a problem boxing needs to eliminate.
It’s part of what makes boxing worth watching.
CLINCH Magazine | Original interview with Matt Clark, Director of Boxing, Tasman Fighters.
SOURCES & VERIFICATION
This feature is based on an original interview conducted by Finn Sloane for CLINCH Magazine with Matt Clark, Director of Boxing at Tasman Fighters.
Additional sources used to verify historical events, championship decisions and fighter records:
- World Boxing Association (WBA): Lucas Browne — May 2016 championship ruling
- ABC News: Lucas Browne — September 2016 WBA ruling
- ABC News: Nikita Tszyu vs Ben Mahoney — August 2026
- BX-9: Max McIntyre vs Francis Waitai — December 4 event
- Philippine Games and Amusements Board: Criztian Pitt Laurente — fighter background
Statements concerning Tasman Fighters’ future plans, fighter signings and internal discussions are attributed directly to Matt Clark. Proposed events and agreements remain subject to official confirmation.
