Wardley Not Counting On Usyk Fight After Dubois

Fabio Wardley isn’t treating Oleksandr Usyk as his next fight, even if he gets through Daniel Dubois on May 9.

Wardley has heard the talk before and isn’t buying into it this time, and he isn’t assuming the fight will happen, he thinks Usyk might just go another direction instead.

“It’s nice to be on the list,” Wardley told IFL TV. “It’s nice to be in the conversation. I’ve always assumed that I would have been. I still take it with a pinch of salt… I’m not banking on it. I’m not going to go, ‘I’ve done the Dubois fight, it’s Usyk now’ because you never know how this game is going to play out.”

Usyk has revealed a three-fight plan that includes Rico Verhoeven on May 23, followed by the winner of Wardley-Dubois, and then a third fight with Tyson Fury. It sounds good laid out like that. Plans like this don’t always hold once real negotiations start.

The WBO elevated Wardley to champion after Usyk vacated the belt rather than defend it against him. That already tells you how these situations can go.

Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) has earned his position with a run of knockouts, including wins over Frazer Clarke, Justis Huni and Joseph Parker. He faces Dubois on May 9 knowing that a win should put him in line for the biggest fight of his career.

It’s easy to see where Wardley is coming from. Why would Usyk risk his unbeaten record and mess up a big-money fight with Tyson Fury or even Anthony Joshua by taking this one? Wardley is a bad style matchup. He has power, throws a lot, takes a good shot, and keeps coming. That’s the kind of fighter that can give a 39-year-old Usyk real problems. If he wins, the Usyk fight will be there on paper, but he’s not treating it like something that’s actually going to happen.