Fabio Wardley compared amateur boxing in Uzbekistan with different paths taken by fighters after he made it as a white-collar fighter early in his career.
Clarke is a 2020 Olympic bronze medallist, while Wardley fought lesser-known names on his way up.
It is Wardley with the belts though, as he can boast both the British and Commonwealth heavyweight straps.
Wardley has 17 fights, 17 wins and 16 KOs to his name, while Clarke has six knockouts from eight wins, and is also unbeaten,
Wardley has had criticism from Clarke - and others - over the route he chose to come up through the sport, but speaking to BoxingScene.com, he hit back at critics ahead of the March 31 clash (live on Peacock in the US).
“He downplayed it a little bit to say the least. There’s a little more to it as I’ve proven in my career,” Wardley said. “That’s what I’m trying to get across. Not that there’s anything wrong with amateur boxing but there are other routes. I want to try and be an advocate of that.
“It isn’t quite as downbeat as he wants to make it seem, just two casual, fat, drunk blokes having a scrap outside a pub. It’s not that. Some kids train for weeks and months on end and all they do is box on white collar shows for years. They commit themselves to the sport.
“There’s a lot of different factors to it. As an amateur you can go and box somewhere like Uzbekistan and lose. Ok, great. You go home and nobody is really gonna get on your case about it. ‘How did you do?’ ‘Oh, I lost.’ ‘Oh, ok. No worries.’
“You go down the pub and see the same geezer that smashed your head in a few weeks ago? That’s not ideal to be honest.”
Live on DAZN: Watch Curiel vs. Nontshinga live on Feb 16 on DAZN. Click here for details.