Fabio Wardley answers honestly whether he thinks Oleksandr Usyk ducked him

Fabio Wardley on if he thinks Oleksandr Usyk ducked him

The new WBO world heavyweight champion, Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs), told Queensberry Promotions that he would rather of been handed the belt in the ring following an emphatic win, and also answered the question whether he thinks Oleksandr Usyk is avoiding him.

The Ipswich hero became the new WBO world heavyweight champion by virtue of the Ukrainian undisputed champion, who decided to relinquish the belt instead of facing him in the ring as a mandatory opponent.

Although Wardley admits he’d have preferred to win the title in the ring, the 30-year-old who made his name as the former recruitment consultant who learned to fight on the white-collar circuit is not losing any sleep over his good fortune.

He more than earned his status as the division’s leading contender with back-to-back stoppage wins over Frazer Clarke, Justus Huni and Joseph Parker.

“Am I dreaming, is this real?” the 30-year-old Brit joked when in conversation with Queensberry. “It’s all well and good to say this is how you want things to go. Boxing careers never go exactly as you want them but, seemingly, mine is running to plan and on schedule. I don’t know if I can wrap my head all around it – I look at my team and I wonder how we’ve pulled it off.”

All the talk before his dramatic 11th round stoppage victory over bookies favourite Parker in October, one that came with Wardley behind on two of three scorecards, was that the winner would secure their shot at Usyk next.

But the 38-year-old two-time undisputed heavyweight ruler, reportedly battling a back injury, last week confirmed that he was going to give up the belt.

As Wardley vs Parker was for the WBO Interim title, the Englishman was automatically elevated as the sanctioning body’s new heavyweight champion.

“I expected him to fight me,” Wardley disappointingly said of Usyk. “There was a lot of chat between the camps of Usyk and Parker that Usyk would fight the winner. I knew how it would look and we were told it was something he [Usyk] was up for so I guess it came as a bit of a surprise when he didn’t [agree to fight] and I was elevated [to WBO champion]. Don’t get me wrong, I was going to take it all the same.

“It’s bittersweet in a sense. On the one hand it’s a fantastic thing to happen to me but, and not to sound arrogant, I wanted it all, I wanted it to be picture-perfect. Anyone who gets into boxing dreams of becoming world champion so for me to turn my nose up at it and say, ‘It wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to be,’ almost feels ridiculously arrogant. I love to fight, I love to box, but I also love to earn it as well.”

Talks of Usyk ducking Wardley has spread across social media, some suggesting he has, many dismissing it as ridiculous talk, so Wardley was asked directly for his view, “If it’s anyone else, do you say they have?” he chuckled.

“It’s that arrogant thing again. If it was any other fighter [besides me] it would definitely be more of a conversation. You would think he would look at me and think, ‘You know what, this is a style and a fighter I could get through.’ You always want to win it in the ring, you want to hear the announcement, you want the belt to be handed to you, and you want to stand and bask in that moment, which is something that I wasn’t able to do. But, again, it’s nothing I’m going to cry about or turn my nose up at.”

As for who comes next, Fabio is waiting by the phone for any of his leading five challengers, as per the WBO rankings, are:

WBO #1 Moses Itauma
WBO #1 Filip Hrgovic
WBO #1 Zhilei Zhang
WBO #1 Daniel Dubois
WBO #1 Jared Anderson

“I’m not hard to find, pick up the phone,” Wardley taunted. “I will be taking all calls.”

He concluded, “It’s been a fairy-tale lived from moment to moment. It’s been a hop, skip and a jump. There’s been big step-ups along the way… it culminated perfectly.”