{"id":404076,"date":"2026-02-02T16:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/404076\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T16:13:09","slug":"fabio-wardley-called-out-for-heavyweight-grudge-match-as-first-world-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/404076\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley called out for heavyweight grudge match as first world title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fabio Wardley<\/a> has been invited to defend his WBO world heavyweight title in America, potentially taking on someone he was supposed to face last year.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old comes off a stunning 11th round finish over Joseph Parker<\/a> in October, when the pair engaged in a thrilling battle for the New Zealander\u2019s WBO interim title.<\/p>\n

By claiming the belt, Wardley was upgraded from interim to full WBO champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his strap towards the end of last year.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Ipswich man has been linked with a selection of heavyweights, including Derek Chisora, who will instead face former world champion Deontay Wilder<\/a> on April 4.<\/p>\n

An announcement regarding his next outing is expected to arrive before long, especially with Wardley having become one of his division\u2019s most exciting punchers.<\/p>\n

The knockout artist proved just that in June 2025, when a crushing 10th round right hand saw him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Justis Huni.<\/p>\n

Initially, it was supposed to be Jarrell Miller against Wardley at Portman Road Football Ground, only for the American to rule himself out of their contest.<\/p>\n

But now, \u2018Big Baby\u2019 is angling for a shot at Wardley\u2019s title, telling Ring Magazine<\/a> that he would be eager to face the Brit on home soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost definitely. He wants to come to America. Wardley would definitely be a great fight; I definitely would stop his behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, we\u2019re just more [gritty]. We don\u2019t stop fights because somebody throws a barrage of punches.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the Joseph Parker fight, the last four punches [from Wardley] missed and the referee stopped that fight in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are getting raw deals in the UK, so let\u2019s see if [Wardley is] really up to the task of coming to America and getting his behind whooped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller returned to action on Saturday, claiming a laboured split decision win against Kingsley Ibeh on the undercard of Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson at Madison Square Garden, New York. Despite his performance \u2014 which featured the viral moment of his toupee being punched off \u2014 leaving a lot to be desired, Miller reiterated his call to face Wardley post-fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley has been invited to defend his WBO world heavyweight title in America, potentially taking on someone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-404076","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\/404076","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=404076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}