Fabio Wardley may be forced to overcome Moses Itauma before he can duke it out with Oleksandr Usyk for all the marbles.
The Ipswich puncher stunned the boxing world with a come-from-behind stoppage win over Joseph Parker on October 25 at London’s O2 Arena.
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Wardley defeated Parker last month to scoop the WBO interim beltCredit: GETTY
In victory, Wardley became the new WBO interim champion and punched his ticket for a fight with undisputed king Usyk.
The WBO had initially ordered Usyk to defend his titles against Parker, but the Ukrainian was granted a medical extension due to a lingering back injury, resulting in Wardley receiving the call to face the Kiwi instead.
Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, recently revealed that talks have commenced with Usyk’s team following his client’s heroics last month.
However, WBO president Gustavo Oliveri insists that the Brit could be ordered to defend his interim title against Itauma if Usyk has a ‘justifiable reason’ to delay his mandatory defence again.
“The committee reserves the right to enforce a mandatory on the interim champion,” Olivieri told The Ring.
“If Usyk is not available for any justified reason, we would enforce a mandatory.”
Moses Itauma’s struggles with pinning down his next opponent
Itauma is currently ranked No.1 by the WBO in boxing’s glamour division and is on the lookout for his next opponent after a series of knockbacks.
The Chatham southpaw was due to headline a Queensberry Promotions card on December 13 in Manchester.
Yet his return to the ring has since been delayed after multiple boxers either priced themselves out of negotiations or flat-out rejected the matchup.
It seemed as though Itauma had finally secured his next dance partner when the WBA ordered Kubrat Pulev to defend his lesser ‘regular’ belt against Itauma.
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Wardley may be ordered to defend his interim title against ItaumaCredit: GETTY
However, the WBA have now granted Pulev a voluntary defence against Murat Gassiev after it was revealed the pair had agreed terms before the mandatory order was made.
Moses Itauma and Fabio Wardley share the same trainer
If Wardley and Itauma were to face each other, then it would leave their joint-trainer Ben Davison in an awkward position.
Davison previously stated that he would be adamantly against matching his two clients against each other, while Wardley has suggested that he would only fight his training partner if they were both world champions.
“Who knows how the future’s going to go? Right now me and Moses, we’re both on our own courses,” Wardley told Sky Sports News.
“We both need to grab our world titles first, before we’re able to have some conversations, maybe about crossing swords ourselves.
“But there’s enough out there right now for the pair of us to have a go at and just occupy ourselves with before we need to start having a serious think about us maybe getting in the ring at the same time.”