{"id":209888,"date":"2025-10-19T00:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209888\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T00:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:14:10","slug":"ive-sparred-joseph-parker-and-fabio-wardley-there-is-only-one-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209888\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve sparred Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley – there is only one winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Okolie believes Fabio Wardley is going to halt Joseph Parker in his tracks.<\/p>\n

Parker and Wardley are set to huge WBO heavyweight title eliminator on October 25<\/a>, at the O2 Arena.<\/p>\n

\"Okolie<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Okolie is watching the heavyweight division closely since stepping upCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

As fight night fast approaches, the boxing fraternity have been casting their votes on who will leave the ring victorious.<\/p>\n

One man that is well-versed in their power, having sparred both Parker and Wardley, is former cruiserweight champion Okolie.<\/p>\n

When talking to talkSPORT, he gave his verdict: \u201cI believe Wardley is going to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Wardley is going to be a bit sharper, especially in those early rounds. <\/p>\n

“I know Parker is an ex-world champion and has been in there with some of the best fighters, but he\u2019s not had a lot of rounds recently.”<\/p>\n

Okolie sees Wardley’s recent win against Justis Huni working in his favour next weekend.<\/p>\n

When they shared the ring in June, Wardley claimed a brutal knockout win in his hometown<\/a> during the tenth round.<\/p>\n

Whereas Parker’s last appearance ended in just the second round<\/a>, when he knocked out Martin Bakole to claim his interim title.<\/p>\n

Okolie continued: \u201cIn [Parker’s] last fight, it was two rounds with Bakole, and before that, it was Wilder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last two or three years, he\u2019s only had I don\u2019t know how many rounds.<\/p>\n

\"Parker<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Parker is the interim WBO heavyweight title holderCredit: GETTY\"Wardley<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Wardley is the WBA interim heavyweight championCredit: Queensberry<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Wardley, he\u2019s been on a good run. I think his sharpness will be able to get to Parker, and I think he\u2019ll hurt him in the middle rounds and end it by stoppage.<\/p>\n

“But if he doesn\u2019t and the fight goes on later, I think Parker\u2019s experience is really going to show.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is on the line when Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley clash?<\/p>\n

The pair are set to go head-to-head, with the winner potentially earning a fight with Oleksandr Usyk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parker came close in recent months, as the WBO ordered Usyk to defend undisputed titles against the New Zealander.<\/p>\n

He opted to fight the Briton instead<\/a>, after it became apparent that the Ukrainian wouldn’t be back in the ring anytime soon.<\/a><\/p>\n

For Wardley, he’s hoping to remain unbeaten as he chases the biggest names of the division.<\/p>\n

\"Wardley<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Wardley has sparred Usyk in the past, when he was gaining experience in gyms across Europe<\/p>\n

After emerging onto the professional scene in 2017, Wardley has amassed a record of 19-0-1.<\/p>\n

With some white collar bouts under his belt, he gained some valuable experience sparring some of the biggest names in gyms across Europe.<\/p>\n

Including the current king of the division, Usyk.<\/p>\n

Although, should Okolie be correct in his prediction, he will be next in line for a sanctioned clash with the 38-year-old.<\/p>\n

For now Usyk is out of action, but when he’s ready to return he will certainly be met with plenty of offers to defend his titles.<\/p>\n

Especially from whoever wins this clash next weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawrence Okolie believes Fabio Wardley is going to halt Joseph Parker in his tracks. Parker and Wardley are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,77989,9254,16174,4036,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-209888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-fabio-wardley","11":"tag-joseph-parker","12":"tag-lawrence-okolie","13":"tag-oleksandr-usyk","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}