Fought to supply material for drapers (7)
I believe the answer is:
sparred
'fought' is the definition.
(sparring is a kind of fighting)
'material for drapers' is the wordplay.
'material for' is an anagram indicator.
'drapers' with letters rearranged gives 'SPARRED'.
'to supply' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sparred that I've seen before include "Boxed; argued" , "Did train at boxing" , "Fought" .)