Joey’s Corner: Time to put some respect on Fabio Wardley’s name

Fabio Wardley pulled off one of the great British heavyweight upsets on Saturday night, knocking out top-rated contender Joseph Parker in 11 scintillating rounds. The victory puts the Ipswich man at the front of the queue for a shot at undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

The win saw Wardley lift Parker’s WBO interim championship. The bauble is essentially an I.O.U. for a crack at the full title, which currently sits around the waist of a certain Ukrainian superstar. The doubters are writing him off, but then the big Brit is used to that. Read on for early Usyk vs Wardley odds and a case for the defence.

Wardley was not supposed to make it as a professional. The Suffolk unit never boxed as an amateur, turning pro in 2017 after just a handful of white collar bouts. Heads began to turn as he racked up nine wins with eight knockouts and claimed the English heavyweight title.

The knockouts continued. Title contender-turned-gatekeeper Eric Molina in five rounds. British ever-present Nick Webb in one. Nathan Gorman fell in three rounds, with Wardley claiming the British championship for his troubles. The likeable slugger had already given the nation’s boxing scribes enough column inches to tell his incredible rise from dinner shows to the Lord Lonsdale Challenge belt.

But Wardley never stopped. He fought like a man who didn’t know he was supposed to. His rise was like his ring style. Ever-forward, occasionally reckless but never less than courageous. David Adeleye was his ceiling for some. ‘Big D’ had represented England as an amateur and won British Universities gold. Adeleye was 12-0 with 11 knockouts coming in. Fireworks were expected when he met Wardley.

Fireworks were delivered, just not by Adeleye. Wardley clubbed his man in seven brutal rounds to retain the British title and pick up the Commonwealth belt on top. In Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Wardley truly arrived.

Wardley’s kill-or-be-killed style was still supposed to cause him problems. Pundits and experts despaired at his come-and-get-me approach. Wardley knew two things; that he hit f**king hard and that, if he landed before his opponent, he would win. Say what you want, but he is yet to be proven wrong.

The Frazer Clarke fights were the making of Wardley as a world-level force. ‘Big Fraze’ is an Olympic bronze medallist, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and European silver medalist. A Team GB boxing captain with 11 major amateur medals, Clarke was unbeaten as a professional as he teed up his first British title shot against Wardley. In short, he was everything Fabio was not; a decorated amateur whose path to pro titles was mapped out from the beginning.

The difference in CV was unclear as the two met in the ring, with Wardley and Clarke staging 12 savage rounds in Saudi in March 2024. The judges could not split them, with the brutal bout ending in a split draw. One thing everyone could agree on was the need to see the fight repeated.

In October 2024, the location was the same with Riyadh staging the rematch. The outcome could not have been more different. Wardley knocked Clarke out in a single round. The amateur superstar was left with a broken jaw that caused an unsightly dent in the side of his head. Wardley was left with his championships intact and his reputation higher than ever.

Wardley was positioned opposite controversial American contender Jarrell Miller for the WBA interim championship. ‘Big Baby’ pulled out and his place was taken by Justis Huni. The unbeaten Aussie was a clear upgrade in quality on Miller and a brave take from Wardley. Not many would have accepted Huni under these circumstances but Fabio is as game as they come.

Wardley needed to be, too. Huni outboxed him for long periods at Portman Road, home of the Brit’s beloved Ipswich Town. But Wardley kept his composure and looked to administer the power shots that nobody has survived since a four-round decision win in his pro debut in 2017. It came in the 10th round, with the Englishman well behind on the cards. Set up with a jab, Wardley threw an overhand right from hell to knock Huni out cold.

The critics came out in force, showing naught but a complete misunderstanding of the sport of boxing. Cries of “lucky punch” from social media muppets with more followers than brain cells were rampant. Very few punches in boxing are lucky, least of all the precision right that separated Huni from his unbeaten record. Wardley considers the punch all round long. Throws a couple of rehearsal attempts, even. Then, when Huni steps in, he strikes. Perfectly planned destruction.

Still, even those of us who saw the method to Wardley’s madness questioned the sanity of taking the Joseph Parker fight. The New Zealander, for my money going in, was the best heavyweight in the division outside of Usyk. I mean how else does one interpret consecutive wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole? The former WBO heavyweight champion had climbed the ladder back to contention the hard way.

On reflection, it is Parker who made the mistake taking the fight with Wardley, not the other way round. Parker was the WBO interim champion coming in, with that organisation openly agitating for Usyk to either fight him or vacate the belt. Either way, Parker’s prospects of title contention in 2026 were locked-in.

But the Auckland stylist heard the call of the squared circle and stepped inside it to meet destiny. For 11 scintillating rounds this past Saturday at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, he swapped punches with a man everyone thought he would beat. But at one point during the above writing do I make it sound like Wardley has ever read the script in these situations?

So, with both boxers exhausted and Parker pegged to the ropes, Wardley emptied the tank completely in round 11. Parker threw nothing back, at one point unable to even keep his gloves up. Referee Howard Foster stopped the fight, much to the chagrin of social media slanderers who only watch boxing twice a year. But the rules have always said and will always say; defend yourself at all times. Parker’s WBO interim reign was over. Arise, Sir Fabio.

The caterwauling has grown in volume since. Wardley’s post-fight call-out of Usyk mocked for its perceived arrogance, as if winning this fight did not make the Brit the official number-one contender with the WBO. How can you scorn a fighter for asking for the prize he earned?

The snobbery over Wardley fighting for a world title is merely an extension of the attitudes the Ipswich heavyweight has always had to endure. He is a power-puncher, pure and simple. Do not tune in for the Ali Shuffle or the jab-built artistry of Larry Holmes. We used to love a slugger. But now dramatic wins when behind on the cards are met with a joyless grey drone from online imbeciles. 

It is a shame that the first thought after a boxer who has taken every big challenge willingly and won the lot of them is to criticise him. Do I think Wardley will beat Usyk if they meet? No I don’t. But do I think the idea of the Ukrainian fighting a man with fight-winning one-punch power is exciting? Yes but I’ll go further; it is what heavyweight boxing is all about.

Usyk has spoilt us with technique. He is an incredible specimen and would have won titles in any era of the sport. But half the fun of the heavyweights is the moment fist meets jaw and jaw meets floor. Imagine the sport with no Buster in 1990, Foreman in 1994, Rahman in 2001 and no Ruiz in 2019. Imagine sport with only the most technically-gifted allowed to win at anything? Count me out.

But whether you think Wardley is world-level or not (he is), you have to concede that he has gone further than anyone could have imagined while watching him over meat and two veg in a white collar hall. And for that, we should put respect on his name.

Image: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney

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