{"id":130371,"date":"2025-09-09T14:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/130371\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T14:18:12","slug":"joseph-parker-warns-fabio-wardley-there-are-levels-to-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/130371\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Parker warns Fabio Wardley: ‘There are levels’ to boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Parker has warned Fabio Wardley the Brit is not on his level ahead of their make-or-break heavyweight fight on Oct. 25.<\/p>\n

The pair will clash at London’s O2 Arena<\/a> for the chance to face Oleksandr Usyk, with their WBO and WBA interim belts on the line.<\/p>\n

WBO interim champion Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) was ordered to fight<\/a> undisputed title holder Usyk in July.<\/p>\n

However, the governing body have granted a 90-day medical exemption for Usyk as he returns to full fitness following his knockout win over Daniel Dubois.<\/p>\n

Joseph Parker will fight Fabio Wardley on Oct. 25.\u00a0James Fearn\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It means Usyk has more time to decide his next move. The Ukrainian will either face the winner between Parker and Wardley or be forced to vacate the title.<\/p>\n

Parker, who has been waiting a long time for a title shot following wins over Zhilei Zhang, Deontay Wilder and Martin Bakole, said Wardley doesn’t have the experience to beat him.<\/p>\n

“Walking towards the fire? I love the fire. I’ve fought a lot of fighters out there with big punches, and they really been able to get me out of there,” Parker told a pre-fight news conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“We could have waited for Usyk but as fighters are showing we will fight anyone any time. Fighting a person like myself is very different to fighting anyone else he has fought.<\/p>\n

– Usyk to promote foundation in charity football match<\/a>
– 2025 contenders: Who can win fighter of the year?<\/a>
– Crocker vs. Donovan: Pride of Ireland on the line in rematch<\/a><\/p>\n

“There are levels. I believe with experience I have and what I’ve been working on in New Zealand, I’m excited to see what I can do in the ring.<\/p>\n

“I’m a different fighter to the fighters he has fought before.”<\/p>\n

WBA champion Wardley is coming off a huge knockout win over Justis Huni <\/a>in June and has said the fight could be a turning point in his career.<\/p>\n

“Huge moment, defining point [for me] probably,” Wardley said.<\/p>\n

“I am committed to that saying of big fights only. I’ve not come here to play around or hang about and wait for things to be handed to me.<\/p>\n

“I think I’ve ticked off the right amount of milestones. I’ve got enough experience to take me through in to a top level fight.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joseph Parker has warned Fabio Wardley the Brit is not on his level ahead of their make-or-break heavyweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-130371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}