Fabio Wardley’s journey is an extraordinary one, from unlicensed white collar boxing to heavyweight prizefighter on the cusp of becoming a world champion. And this weekend he takes his next step against former title holder Joseph Parker, in London’s docklands.
Wardley, who walked into a gym in Ipswich with no boxing experience as a 20-year-old, sits one victory away from challenging Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight crown, once known as ‘the richest prize in sport’. It has been an improbable tale of derring-do for Wardley.
Undefeated now as a professional, with 20 contests and eighteen stoppages to his name, he was a recruitment consultant sitting in an office eight years ago, with no thoughts of a career in pugilism.
Wardley, who had four victories in unlicensed boxing before turning professional, faces former world champion Parker who has 68 fights to his name. On his résumé are battles including Anthony Joshua, Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. That is the summit of the division, where Wardley has now arrived.
Wardley, who holds the WBA interim title to go against Parker’s WBO interim belt, told Telegraph Sport: “When I was doing white collar, I didn’t think it would come this far at all. It was an experiment. It was just for fun, something competitive for me to sink my teeth into.”
Wardley had played football in his early teenage years, a centre-forward, and had been on the books at Ipswich Town. By his late teens, Wardley admits he had gone off the tracks – “partying”, in his words – but aged 20, he sought out new athletic challenges.
“This was something different to football, and I enjoyed the one-on-one side to it,” explained Wardley. “I don’t know if I would have made it in other sports, but I definitely enjoyed playing football as a kid and playing competitive sports across the board. But as I say, I really don’t know if it would ever have materialised into anything.”
