Fabio Wardley\u2019s promoter, Frank Warren, says Oleksandr Usyk will have to fight Wardley next or relinquish his WBO heavyweight title now that he\u2019s the mandatory.<\/p>\n
(Credit: Queensberry\/Leigh Dawney)<\/p>\n
Klimas Cool on Wardley<\/p>\n
Usyk\u2019s manager, Egis Klimas, reportedly wasn\u2019t \u201cover excited\u201d about fighting Wardley when asked about the fight following Fabio\u2019s 11th-round knockout win over Joseph Parker (36-4, 24 KOs) last Saturday night on October 25, 2025, at the O2 Arena in London.<\/p>\n
Money Over Mandate<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unknown if Usyk and Klimas are waiting for a bigger fight against Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua. Those would be larger paydays for Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) and would involve less risk due to the advanced ages of the two Brits. Fury is 37, carrying around some extra pounds around his waistline, while Joshua is 36 and coming off a bad knockout loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said before the fight that they would fight the winner,\u201d said promoter Frank Warren to talkSport Boxing<\/a> after being told by host Jim White that Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s manager, Egis Klimas, was \u201cnot over excited with all due respect at the prospect of fighting Fabio\u201d following his win over Joseph Parker.<\/p>\n There wouldn\u2019t be as much of a backlash for Usyk if he vacated his WBO title to avoid Wardley, compared to if he relinquished a belt to swerve a fight against the 20-year-old Moses Itauma. It doesn\u2019t look as bad avoiding the 30-year-old Wardley because he\u2019s older, and not being hyped as the future of the heavyweight division the way Itauma is.<\/p>\n It would only make sense for Usyk to vacate the WBO title if he\u2019s going to be doing it, so he can face Joshua or Fury next. He wouldn\u2019t even have to vacate if he paid Wardley a step aside. Oleksander got more than enough money to do that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe WBO had ordered that. So, it\u2019s up to him. He either fights him or relinquishes the belt, or he gets stripped,\u201d said Warren about Usyk. \u201cI hope he doesn\u2019t do that because I feel this fight would fill Wembley up. We had a good turnout on Saturday [for Parker vs. Wardley]. This is now a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Usyk\u2019s Silence Speaks<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a good sign that Usyk hasn\u2019t said a word since Wardley\u2019s victory over Parker. What makes it look worse is the comment from talkSport host Jim White about Usyk\u2019s manager, Klimas, not being \u201cexcited\u201d about Wardley being an option for his next fight.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Wardley] has the power. He\u2019s shown that in 19 of 20 fights. He comes from behind and does it. Fabio deserves his shot at Usyk. It will sell out Wembley,\u201d said Warren.<\/p>\n Since 2014, Olly Campbell has brought readers clear ringside perspective and a steady voice on boxing\u2019s biggest nights.<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb – An Analyst’s Perspective<\/a> \u00bb Usyk\u2019s Camp \u201cNot Over Excited\u201d About Facing Fabio Wardley\u2014Frank Warren Says It\u2019s Time to Fight or Vacate<\/p>\n Last Updated on 10\/27\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley\u2019s promoter, Frank Warren, says Oleksandr Usyk will have to fight Wardley next or relinquish his WBO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-229986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229986","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=229986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}