Fabio Wardley isn’t hiding behind the shiny new gold. The Ipswich heavyweight might be the WBO champion on paper, but he’s blunt about how it landed in his lap and why he still feels like he owes fans a real one. After Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt, Wardley was elevated from interim to full world champion, something he’s openly uneasy with. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said, “It’s always nicer to do it properly, do it in the ring… shake hands with your opponent after and say, ‘look, good fight, thank you.’”
He knows how people see it when belts move without punches being thrown. He didn’t duck it. “They don’t like it when the belts, in their eyes, just get handed about,” he told the BBC. And he’s right — British fans want blood earned, not gifted hardware.
Wardley’s Rise Was Violent, Messy, And Real
What makes this whole thing even more surreal is where Wardley came from. White-collar scraps at 20. No amateur pedigree. Straight into the pro scene and banging out 19 stoppages in 20 wins. He was getting outboxed by Justis Huni before detonating a single right hand in round 10. Same story against Joseph Parker — behind on the cards, then turned the fight on its head with an 11th-round finish.
But he knows one strap isn’t the finish line. Defenses haven’t been discussed yet, but he’s already looking at UK options, international options, whoever wants it. Two defenses, then unification — that’s the plan. And yes, he’d take Anthony Joshua tomorrow. “I’d never say no to anyone… It would be an honour to share the ring with him,” he told BBC Sport.
Wardley’s not pretending this belt is the end. It’s just a start. A messy one. But very on-brand for a man who built his career the hard way. If he’s going to truly “earn the right” to call himself a world champion, he wants to do it with fists, not paperwork.