Usyk is a man of his word—honor it now, Champ

Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) believes four-belt heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is a “man of his word” and will choose to defend his undisputed crown against him as he said he would when he said he would face the winner of his fight against WBO interim champion Joseph Parker (36-4, 24 KOs).

(Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney)

Wardley did his part, stopping Parker in round 11 on Saturday night to become the new WBO mandatory challenger and interim champion at the O2 Arena in London. It was a grueling battle for Wardley in which he was injured several times. But eventually he came through to stop Parker, 33, in the 11th round after battering him with a series of unanswered punches.

Parker was not happy with how referee Howard Foster pulled the plug on the fight in round 11 when he was docked and tried to get off a flurry of shots by Wardley. It was pretty clear that Fabio wasn’t going to tire of throwing after hurting him. Referee Foster had no choice but to stop the fight or risk helping Parker kick to the canvas if Wardley laid him out.

“Could I have gotten him out of the second? Who knows?” said Fabio Wardley iFL TV about Joseph Parker losing his mouthpiece in round two after being badly injured. “I believe he is a man of his word. He said in the build-up: ‘I will be happy to take the winner.’ So, I’m the winner. Let’s take me on, baby,” Wardley said when asked if he believed undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk would fight him.”

If Usyk refuses to fight Wardley, as he did Moses Itauma, he will have to relinquish his WBO title. Of course he can do it, but who else is there for him to fight? Tyson Fury revealed this week that he will remain retired because he does not want to risk brain damage. A trilogy with Anthony Joshua would be fun, but Usyk has already beaten him twice. Joshua would have to be a glutton for punishment to want to fight Usyk again.

The old mouthpiece trick was a good one by Parker. He lost like an old vet just at the right moment when Wardley had him about to be knocked out clinically. The time out bought Parker precious time that allowed him to survive round two.

“I think Ipswich is big enough to look after Usyk. Come on, Usyk. Say a word. It’s not me,” Wardley said when asked if he would prefer to fight Usyk rather than fight for the vacant WBO title. “I’m a man who’s earned everything in the ring.”

Usyk is likely to go ahead and face Wardley next as this is a fight that will generate a lot of interest worldwide. There’s money to be made for Usyk, and it’s a winnable one if he can outbox him like Justis Huni did for long stretches last June.

“I’m not going to have it handed to me and me sitting there and being happy about it. I want to fight for it and win it that way,” says Wardley.