{"id":360246,"date":"2026-01-09T04:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T04:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360246\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T04:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T04:38:08","slug":"fabio-wardley-warns-tyson-fury-on-move-that-could-cost-him-world-title-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360246\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley warns Tyson Fury on move that could cost him world title shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fabio Wardley<\/a> ensured 2025 would be remembered. Now 2026 threatens to define him.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old British heavyweight produced a Knockout of the Year contender in May, hauling himself from behind on the scorecards to stop Justis Huni in dramatic fashion. Five months later, Wardley went one better, halting former world champion Joseph Parker to cap the finest year of his career.<\/p>\n

That victory earned Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs), the WBO interim title and, following Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s decision to relinquish the belt, the Ipswich man was elevated to full world champion. In doing so, he joined Anthony Joshua<\/a>, Daniel Dubois<\/a> and Tyson Fury<\/a> on the short list of British heavyweights to have held a recognised world title in the modern era.<\/p>\n

An inaugural defence against Derek Chisora has been mooted, but Wardley\u2019s rapid ascent has also attracted the attention of Fury, who recently confirmed that his January 2025 retirement<\/a> is over and that he plans to return in 2026. The former lineal champion will have no shortage of options, yet Wardley is one name Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) has openly said he would be keen to face later in the year.<\/p>\n

Before that, however, the expectation is that the \u201cGypsy King\u201d will take a warm-up fight, having not boxed since suffering a second defeat to Usyk in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Wardley, for his part, is in no rush to duck anyone. Speaking to Boxing Social<\/a>, the champion gave a typically relaxed response to Fury\u2019s remarks, but hopes a warm-up fight does not become a \u201cbanana skin\u201d that derails their potential clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he\u2019s training hard and shedding the pounds. I think he\u2019s in Thailand or somewhere like that enjoying the sun. I hope they\u2019re having a good time out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he is going to have a little warm-up, I hope he comes through it and that it\u2019s not a banana skin. And look, if that\u2019s really what you want to do, I don\u2019t think you need to \u2014 it\u2019s just little old me, don\u2019t worry about it. I\u2019m no trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you do need one, that\u2019s fine. Do what you\u2019ve got to do. Then, when you\u2019re done, give me a call.\u201d<\/p>\n

While nothing has been confirmed regarding Fury\u2019s next opponent or return date, Russian heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov<\/a> (21-2, 19 KOs) has emerged as a leading contender to face the 37-year-old.<\/p>\n

Whether it is Chisora, Fury or another challenger entirely, Wardley enters 2026 not chasing opportunity \u2014 but daring it to come and find him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley ensured 2025 would be remembered. Now 2026 threatens to define him. The 31-year-old British heavyweight produced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-360246","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\/360246","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=360246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}