{"id":291323,"date":"2025-11-17T23:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T23:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291323\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T23:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T23:06:07","slug":"wardley-becomes-wbo-heavyweight-champion-after-usyk-vacates-belt-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291323\/","title":{"rendered":"Wardley becomes WBO heavyweight champion after Usyk vacates belt | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fabio Wardley has been upgraded to WBO heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> elected to relinquish the title \u2013 and his undisputed status \u2013 rather than defend it against the unbeaten Briton.<\/p>\n

Wardley wrested the interim title from Joseph Parker via a dramatic 11th-round stoppage<\/a> last month and was mandated to face the Ukrainian before the end of September.<\/p>\n

But the WBO announced on Monday that Usyk, who unified the world titles by beating another Briton, the then IBF champion Daniel Dubois in July<\/a>, has formally relayed his decision to vacate the belt \u201cafter thoughtful consideration\u201d. Beating Dubois resulted in Usyk becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion for a second time, but he elected for his spell to be short-lived.<\/p>\n

The WBO later confirmed Wardley\u2019s elevation to \u201cfull champion status\u201d. Frank Warren, the 30-year-old\u2019s promoter, wrote on X: \u201cBritain has a new heavyweight world champion and a new star of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most incredible stories I\u2019ve seen in my 45 years as a promoter and I could not be prouder of Fabio Wardley. Some huge fights ahead for 2026 as he defends his WBO belt and creates a true legacy in the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wardley started his career in white-collar boxing before turning professional in 2017 and racking up 17 straight wins. After a split-decision draw against Frazer Clarke in March 2024, he beat Clarke in one round<\/a> seven months later and subsequently came from behind to stop Justis Huni and earn his shot at Parker.<\/p>\n

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Wardley becomes the sixth Briton to hold the WBO heavyweight title after Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Henry Akinwande, Herbie Hide and Michael Bentt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley has been upgraded to WBO heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk elected to relinquish the title \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-291323","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\/291323","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=291323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}