John Fury says it was a foolish move by John Parker’s team to have chosen Fabio Wardley as his opponent last Saturday night.
The Usyk Opportunity Lost
John Fury points out that Parker (36-4, 24 KOs) was in the #1 spot as the WBO mandatory challenger for champion Oleksandr Usyk for a massive fight in 2026. He didn’t need to take a risky fight against a dangerous puncher like Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs).
The move by Team Parker backfired on them, as he was knocked out in the 11th round by Wardley at the O2 Arena in London. Now, that defeat removes Parker from a fight against Usyk, and a payday that was estimated to have been $60 million+.
Who knows if Parker will be able to rebuild to get in position for another world title? Even if he does, it won’t be soon, and Usyk will likely have retired by the time he gets into position. Usyk said last week that he plans on fighting for another three years. That’s just an estimate. He could call it quits sooner if he takes a bad defeat against Wardley or Moses Itauma.
Referee Under Fire
John Fury also second-guesses the referee Howard Foster for stopping the fight “10 seconds too long” in the 11th round when Parker was in trouble after being staggered by a flurry of punches from the younger fighter Wardley.
Parker had been in trouble since late in the 10th round and came out for round 11, looking half-stunned. He was immediately met with a big right from Wardley that knocked him three steps back, causing him to make a hasty retreat to the ropes. Wardley jumped on his wounded prey like a shark devouring a game fish and began ripping what’s left of Park to pieces.
“Too slow of the stoppage. It was a beaten man in there. Joe was beat. I know it was a world title fight and you’ve got to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he was getting killed in there,” said John Fury to iFL TV, questioning the timing of the stoppage by referee Howard Foster of Joseph Parker in his 11th round TKO loss to Fabio Wardley last Saturday night.
Fans on social media believe the referee stopped the fight prematurely in the 11th. However, they were failing to notice that Parker wasn’t throwing punches at all and was just trying to dodge the incoming fire from Wardley. Indeed, Parker threw a measly seven punches in the entire 11th round before thef ight was halted. 7 punches in 1:54 seconds.
Corner Should Have Stopped It
There was still more than a minute left in the round, and it was obvious that he would he was a goner. The real question is, why did Parker’s trainer allow him out for the 11th round? He’d been beaten up in the final 20 seconds of round 10 and had staggered back to his corner after the round. One could tell that he wasn’t going to shake off the effects of the damage in the short break before the start of the 11th. His trainer should have told the referee he was too hurt to continue.
“The bombs were raining in on him, and he was defenseless. 10 seconds too long. You can’t let a man like that tee off on you,” said John about Wardley being too dangerous to be allowed to unload on the hurt Parker.
“He was sitting at the #1 spot. He could have picked an easier night than Fabio Wardley, a dangerous man,” said John Fury.
