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Fabio Wardley has become the WBO heavyweight champion
The team behind Fabio Wardley said it was “unbelievable” that he had gone from white collar boxing to now world champion.
Wardley, from Ipswich, was named World Boxing Organisation (WBO) heavyweight champion after Ukrainian fighter Oleksandr Usyk decided to relinquish the title.
The Suffolk boxer originally started in white collar boxing – having limited experience – before stepping straight into his professional career with no amateur fights.
Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, said while he believed Wardley would have preferred to have stepped into the ring for the title, he expected the athlete to be “over the moon”.
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Promoter Frank Warren said he would speak with Wardley later on Tuesday to congratulate him
“Fabio has really captured the public’s imagination with his Cinderella type story and he’s an exciting fighter,” Mr Warren told BBC Radio Suffolk’s Wayne Bavin.
“Oleksandr is number one, best in the world, but he chose not to face Fabio.
“You can look at it anyway you like, but the fact of the matter is that Fabio was ready to go.”
Mr Warren said he always believed there was a “strong possibility” that Usyk would give up his title after Wardley had “shown what a danger he is”.
“This is an unbelievable story,” the promoter continued.
“Somebody who has never ever had an amateur fight; he’s just had a couple of white collar fights and he’s gone on to become champion.
“Not just Suffolk, but the whole nation should be proud of him.”
Wayne Bavin/BBC
Matt Brennan said he was over the moon with Wardley’s title
Matt Brennan, also part of Wardley’s team, said while he did not think it was the “way you would expect to win a world title”, it was an “amazing achievement from where Fab has come from to where he is today”.
“It is a shame for Fab and us because it would have been great to see Fab win the world title in the ring… he can now call himself a world champion and nobody can ever take that away from him,” he added.
Mr Brennan said Wardley had been in the airport on Monday ready to go on holiday when he found out the news.
He said the boxer was delighted and the rest of his team had celebrated together.
