{"id":376830,"date":"2026-01-18T12:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376830\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:09:07","slug":"heavyweight-who-sent-fabio-wardley-to-hospital-in-sparring-calls-for-title-fight-he-cant-ko-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376830\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavyweight who ‘sent Fabio Wardley to hospital in sparring’ calls for title fight: “He can’t KO me”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fabio Wardley<\/a> (20-0-1, 19 KOs) could be tempted by a revenge mission if his first defence of the WBO heavyweight title does not come against Derek Chisora<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chisora has emerged as the leading candidate for an all-British world title clash with the unbeaten Ipswich man, but with nothing yet confirmed there remains room for other heavyweight contenders to stake their claim.<\/p>\n

One such name is Filip Hrgovic<\/a> (19-1, 14 KOs). The 33-year-old Croat has rediscovered momentum after halting David Adeleye and Joe Joyce<\/a> in successive outings \u2014 timely victories following his stoppage defeat to Daniel Dubois in June 2024.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BoxNation in Germany<\/a> following Agit Kabayel\u2019s win over Damian Knyba, Hrgovic outlined why he believes Wardley would represent a winnable assignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the best chin in the division. I proved that. He can\u2019t knock me out and I think I\u2019m the better fighter. I\u2019m bigger, I\u2019m better, more experienced and I believe I can beat him. He has a voluntary defence, so we\u2019ll see what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic then added an extra edge to his challenge by revisiting a sparring session between the pair several years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast time when we sparred in Miami, he went to hospital after that sparring, but he was a beginner. It was like five years ago, without experience. Now he\u2019s better, but I believe I can beat him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good opportunity for you to get revenge from that sparring in Miami \u2014 you remember? But you\u2019re champion now. You choose what\u2019s going to happen. So let\u2019s see. But I know no one can stop me from becoming a world champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Wardley\u2019s first defence yet to be finalised<\/a>, the choice may come down to familiarity or unfinished business \u2014 and Hrgovic has made it clear he believes both favour him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) could be tempted by a revenge mission if his first defence of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-376830","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\/376830","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=376830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}