From office desk to knockouts: Fabio Wardley’s Usyk mission

Former white-collar, 9-5 office worker, Fabio Wardley, believes he is going to be the “next one” to challenge Oleksandr Usyk for his heavyweight undisputed championship by defeating Joseph Parker this Saturday, October 25, at the O2 Arena in London.

Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs) sounds more like a high-level executive in the business sector when he talks, and is not impressed by the experience advantage 13-year pro Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) has over him.

No blueprint, just instinct

Former recruitment consultant (headhunter) Wardley was a latecomer to boxing, starting in London in 2020. His natural strength made the transition easier than it should have been. But also, his intelligence helped him overtake fighters who had been fighting for many years.

Wardley, the interim heavyweight champion of the WBA, said Queensberry that his power “speaks for itself”. He believes that if he nails Parker “half clean” he can hurt him and knock him down “one, twice, two, three, four times”.

Parker-Wardley headlines on DAZN PPV in an event priced at $59.99. That price point is still daunting to many fans in the US, less so in the UK, where it’s priced at £24.99 on DAZN PPV. The event would be more attractive to American boxing fans if the cost were less. The $20 range would have worked for the American crowd.

When asked about his thoughts on Parker’s recent wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole, Wardley dismissed his performance, saying: “I believe I would have knocked him out.”

With Wardley’s striking power, he would have had an excellent chance of knocking out those three aging veterans. Bakole, who was brought in as a late replacement opponent, weighed in at an obese 310 pounds for his fight with Parker earlier this year on February 22nd for their undercard clash on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 meeting in Riyadh.

Parker’s experience? Overestimated

Wardley states that Parker’s experience “can’t save you in the ring” because it won’t give him ‘an extra boost of energy’ to make him hit ‘harder’ or ‘faster’. It is assumed that Parker will try to engage Wardley as he may choose to box and move for 12 rounds. He did this in his fights against Zhang and Wilder. He fought like a heavyweight version of Shakur Stevenson. It was very boring to watch for many fans, but effective.

Fabio believes that his “unpredictable” fighting style will give him an advantage as it is not typically seen in fighters with an amateur background in the sport. While learning on the job, Wardley says his team didn’t try to box me into a certain style to make him into something. Instead, they allowed Wardley to use his “natural” style, but taught him the basics of what he needed to succeed.