Unbeaten British heavyweight Fabio Wardley might just have scooped up two year-end awards last night, this courtesy of his absolutely stunning one-punch knockout of Justis Huni. Wardley may well pick up the Comeback of the Year award, along with the KO of the Year award when the gongs are handed out.
What we saw last night in Wardley’s Ipswich homecoming showed us all again how boxing, particularly heavyweight boxing, really is the theatre of the unexpected. Hurt multiple times, looking to be on the verge of exhaustion, and down on all scorecards, 30 year old Wardley was being outboxed and out-punched by Australian warrior Huni, now 12-1(7). It was tough for Wardley’s 20,000 or so fans to watch, and the crowd had been pretty much silenced.
The Jaws of Defeat—Wardley’s Round Ten Lightning Strike
But then, in round ten, Wardley who proved again he is both tough and also a never-say-die ring animal, landed flush on Huni’s jaw with a cracking counter right. Huni went down on his back and he was counted out. Wardley had quite literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
From Survivor to Superstar—Wardley’s Next Steps
So now what? Wardley, 19-0-1(18) will be more popular than ever now, and the KO he scored over 26 year old Huni will feature proudly on his highlight real. The WBA interim champ, Wardley spoke after last night’s incredible fight, and he readily agrees he is not yet the finished article as a fighter.
“Look, I said I’m not the finished article. I haven’t got everything nailed down, everything perfect, everything all ticked off,” Wardley said to East Anglian Times. “I’m still very much learning on the job, which is a funny thing to say when I’m 20 fights in and interim world champion. Justis has more amateur fights than I’ve even have had fights ever in my life. I’ve been boxing for about eight, nine years. I’ve got to learn and these fights make me better. We saw how much I took from the first Frazer [Clarke] fight, and how I took that into the second one. That’s what I’ll do with this one.”
If Wardley can make some adjustments, improve his game, maybe he can go on to win a full world title. What’s definite is the fact that Wardley is a fighter who can never, ever be written off. Not even when he’s seemingly as close as can be to certain defeat.
Wardley’s next fight will be something so many fans will now be eagerly awaiting. It was indeed, a “Deontay Wilder moment” last night, with Wardley reminding all future opponents of his how they cannot afford to make a single mistake when they’re in there with him.
