Fabio Wardley pulled off a huge upset to wreck Joseph Parker’s dreams of becoming a two-time world heavyweight champion on Saturday and put himself in position for a shot at undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The British fighter is now the number one challenger for the Ukrainian after he claimed a stunning comeback victory by stopping the veteran New Zealander in the 11th round of an entertaining and bruising battle at London’s O2 Arena.
Wardley, 30, claimed the WBO ‘interim’ title when he forced referee Howard Foster to stop the bout as he swarmed former world champion Parker, who had been hurt badly in the 10th by a right uppercut.
The Ipswich native brought the crowd to their feet and collapsed to the floor in celebration as his corner team piled into the ring to celebrate.
They were superb scenes as the former white-collar boxer continued his remarkable rise in the professional ranks.
There was an argument that the stoppage was premature, especially given Parker had dominated for large parts of the fight and hurt Wardley numerous times with right hands.
But the 33-year-old New Zealander offered little argument when Foster stepped in and his trainer Andy Lee did not appear to remonstrate as his man suffered his fourth career defeat.
“I said all the way through this build-up that we picked Joseph Parker because I believe I’m at the top and I proved I’m at the top,” said Wardley.
“All credit to Joseph, he can’t get enough respect and he deserves all the respect from the boxing community. He took a chance when he didn’t have to, and we knew he wasn’t going anywhere quickly. We had to pick our spots and eventually we got them out of there.”
It was a right uppercut from Wardley in the 10th round which swung the bout firmly back in favour of the underdog.
This was Wardley’s 20th career win and his most important. Usyk now potentially awaits early next year.
Parker risked his position as the number one contender for Usyk’s crown by taking this fight, falling to his fourth career defeat.
Wardley’s promoter Frank Warren told DAZN: “Usyk said he wants to do it, so that’s what it will be. It’s a 36-minute fight and it only takes one second from him.”