In a dramatic finish, WBA interim heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) came back from the brink to stop WBO interim champion Joseph Parker (36-4, 24 KOs) in the 11th round in their headliner on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London. The time of the stoppage was at 1:54 of round 11.
Wardley showed his toughness after getting hurt in the 10th round from a flurry of shots from Parker. He weathered the storm, and staggered Parker was some huge shots that had him out on his feet in the closing seconds of the round. One could tell from looking at Parker’s condition that he would not make it through the next round.
Sure enough, Wardley jumped on the still dazed-looking Parker at the start of the 11th, hammering him with booming punches that once again had him hurt. Fabio then backed the stricken Parker against the ropes and tagged him with a barrage of punches, leaving referee Howard Foster with no choice but to halt the contest. It was a good stoppage because Parker was no longer defending himself and taking brutal headshots from Wardley.
Undercard action
Cruiserweight Juergen Uldedaj (21-1, 8 KOs) showed his class, defeating an overmatched Rolly Lambert Fogoum (18-5-1, 14 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBO cruiserweight title in the co-feature bout.
The judges’ scores were 118-110, 120-108, and 119-109. It was an uneventful fight with Uldedaj dog-walking Lambert the entire fight, pounding him at will with his light punches to win rounds, but not impressing the crowd at the O2 Arena.
Light heavyweight Ezra Taylor (13-0, 9 KOs) pounded out a ninth-round technical knockout of Steed Woodall (20-4-1, 12 KOs). The referee, Mark Bates, halted the contest in the ninth after Woodall’s corner tossed in the towel to pull their fighter out. He’d lost every round of the fight and was getting worked over by Taylor in the ninth at the time of the stoppage.
Super featherweight Royston Barney-Smith (15-0, 7 KOs) had his way with IBF European and WBO European super featherweight champion Danny Quartermaine (13-1-1, 4 KOs), dominating him from start to finish in a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision victory. The scores were 100-88, 98-90, and 100-88. Quartermaine was down in round 10 from a right hook from Royston. In the seventh, the referee, Marcus McDonnell, docked a point from Quartermaine for leading with his head. He’d been doing this throughout the fight. Finally, the referee got tired of it and took a point off.
Lightweight Mitchell Smith (19-1, 9 KOs) trounced Arnie Dawson (8-1, 4 KOs), defeating him by a 10-round unanimous decision in a masterclass performance to capture the vacant WBO European 135-lb title. Smith had the stork-like Dawon down in round one after nailing him with a salvo of heavy shots. Dawson did well to fight back in rounds two through four, landing some good shots, but lacking the pop in his punches to keep the 32-year-old Mitchroom off of him.
The judges’ scores were 96-93, 96-93, and 97-92.
