\n That’s an understatement. Once again, the Suffolk slugger found a way to win a fight no-one outside of his tight-knit team really thought he could. Parker had a huge experience advantage, a red-hot win streak and years fighting the very best in the sport.\n<\/p>\n
\n But once again, none of that mattered. Having shown he can very much box with the world’s best, Wardley once more summoned his terrifying power to hurt and stop Parker in the 11th round of one of the fights of the year so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fabio Wardley (left) wobbles Joseph Parker on the way to stopping him at the O2 Arena (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFor the most part, the fight went as we expected,” Wardley tells me. “I never expected to have it all my own way.\n<\/p>\n
\n “There was good back and forth exchanges, there were rounds where he was doing well, rounds where I was doing well, adjustments that needed to be made.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe had some really good attributes \u2013 his jab, double jab, left hooks. There were things he was doing which we had to work on in the moment and figure out a bit.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut overall, it all went to plan really. We knew the areas where I could get him, the areas where I\u2019d be stronger and a bit better in, and we exploited them pretty well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Coach Rob Hodgins jumps on top of Fabio Wardley after he’d beaten Joseph Parker (Image: Leigh Dawney\/Queensberry)\n<\/p>\n
\n The former Chantry High student crumpled to the canvas after referee Howard Foster stepped in to end the fight and rescue Parker, with Rob Hodgins – who’s coached Wardley since day one of his boxing odyssey – then jumping on top of him and relaying a message into his ear.\n<\/p>\n
\n I ask what Wardley (now 20-0-1, 19KO) was thinking in that moment – and what Hodgins said to him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAll the way in the build-up, I wasn\u2019t allowing myself to think about what came after,” he replies. “And then getting the win, the fight gets called off, in that moment, I was like \u2018I\u2019ve done it!\u2019\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI allowed myself in that moment to go \u2018you know what\u2019s next? You know what you\u2019ve just got the chance to do?\u2019\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd Rob jumped on top of me and said \u2018do you know what you\u2019ve just done?\u2019 He had the same sentiment in his head. We were on the same wavelength.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n What comes next, remarkably, is a fight against one of the greatest boxers to ever walk the planet.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian icon Usyk (24-0, 15KO) is the current undisputed heavyweight champion, having also been the undisputed cruiserweight king before stepping up to boxing’s marquee division.\n<\/p>\n
\n The unbeaten Oleksandr Usyk is a generational great (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe is everything everyone says and more,” Wardley enthuses, as he considers the huge task in front of him. “A generational great, a generational talent, the best boxer on the planet currently.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo it\u2019s one hell of a task, but I think I\u2019ve got attributes that can get me good moments in the fight and it\u2019s just about capitalising on them.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut make no mistake, it\u2019s a very tall task, a very big ask. No-one\u2019s been able to get through it as yet, but my thing is that the fighters he\u2019s faced previously have all been pretty conventional in terms of how they do things.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMaybe the one thing to throw off the ultimate boxer is someone who\u2019s a bit unconventional, a bit different, who doesn\u2019t move to the same kind of rhythm\u2026 maybe, we\u2019ll see.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Wardley’s promoter, the legendary Frank Warren, has suggested in the last week or so that negotiations for the fight have started.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fabio Wardley after his win over Joseph Parker (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s not something I can confirm, because I haven\u2019t spoken to Frank!” Wardley explains. “I\u2019ve left it to him really. I said to him afterwards, you do your thing and we\u2019ll catch up in a week or two.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThese early doors things are the most broad conversations, nothing\u2019s even close to being nailed.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo for me I was like I\u2019ve done my job, that\u2019s your side, it\u2019s up to you \u2013 I don\u2019t need to be calling you every day for an update.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo I haven\u2019t. We\u2019ll catch up in a few weeks, figure a few things out and see where we land.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Wembley Stadium next spring or summer is the location and time that has been mentioned most in the chat around the fight – but Wardley has his eye on a different place.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t know to be honest,” he insists when I ask about where he’d like to fight Usyk. “I\u2019d quite like to do something different.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, Wembley is very different, but I\u2019d like to do something in America I think.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMaybe Vegas, maybe MSG (Madison Square Garden in New York). I\u2019ve done the UK, I\u2019ve done a stadium in the UK, I\u2019ve done the O2, I\u2019ve done Riyad \u2013 I\u2019d like to do something different and go to America.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBut ultimately, it\u2019s not up to me \u2013 it\u2019s up to the big man, Usyk himself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf he wants to do it at Wembley or somewhere closer to his homeland, it\u2019s all up to him really. We\u2019ll see.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Fabio Wardley says he’d like to face Oleksandr Usyk in America next year (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n As to the potential date, he adds: \u201cSomewhere in the middle of spring and summer\u2026 April, May ideally, something like that.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA good bit of time, good bit of training camp, just get straight into things at the beginning of the year.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat would be ideal for me, but again he\u2019s the big man, it\u2019s up to him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Of course, this is boxing, so nothing is ever simple. Usyk doesn’t have to face Wardley if he doesn’t want to – he could simply give up the WBO title.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019d be elevated to full world champion, so I\u2019d get the belt and I\u2019d be able to defend it,” Wardley confirms of that scenario.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo then I\u2019d have a world title defence against someone of my choosing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n But ultimately, he wants to face Usyk, the man he served as a sparring partner for seven years ago, when he was just a fledgling boxing professional.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fabio Wardley, left, and Oleksandr Usyk sparred years ago (Image: PA Sport)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI remember him just pinging me all around the place to be honest!” he recalls of those sparring sessions in the Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was very early in my career, maybe two or three fights in, so I was brand new. It was the first time I\u2019d been away for a sparring camp.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Don\u2019t get me wrong, he\u2019s got much better since, but he was still a great fighter back then. So I just remember getting punched up a lot, to be honest.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n I finish by telling Wardley something I wouldn’t have said before October 25th and that sensational Parker win – I believe he can beat Usyk.\n<\/p>\n
\n Wardley’s arguably the biggest puncher the Ukrainian will have ever faced, and – as he’s alluded to above – he moves and throws punches in an unorthodox fashion.\n<\/p>\n
\n Crucially, for me, Wardley’s mental fortitude and self-belief is unbreakable – vital when so many Usyk foes crumble before the fight or during the battle itself, as the legendary champion slowly cranks up the pressure.\n<\/p>\n
\n So, what does Wardley think of my suggestion – that he comes through the fire and finds a way to stop Usyk late on? Doing so would make the Suffolk man just the third undisputed heavyweight champion this century, behind only Usyk and British legend Lennox Lewis.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lennox Lewis is the only other undisputed heavyweight champion this century (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely doable,” he insists. “I said in the ring after the (Parker) fight \u2013 one way or another, Oleksandr Usyk is going to come out of that knowing he\u2019s been in a fight, there\u2019s no way it\u2019s going to be an easy ride.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to know he\u2019s been in a scrap, and that\u2019s one thing I do bring \u2013 that pressure and that power.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThose two things together can be a recipe for disaster for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting my chat with Fabio Wardley, I introduce him as the number one contender for the undisputed heavyweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-267988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267988","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=267988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}