Heavyweight highlight on the horizon: Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley are set to clash at London’s O2 Arena on October 25.
An exciting heavyweight clash is on the horizon: Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley are apparently about to clash at London’s O2 Arena on October 25. According to The Ring the fight is to be organized by Queensberry Promotions.
Parker (33), the current WBO interim world champion, recently returned to training with coach Andy Lee. He would actually be Oleksandr Usyk’s next mandatory challenger. But as the Ukrainian is out injured – and recently raised eyebrows when he was seen dancing on social media despite his alleged injury – Parker does not want to wait any longer. Since his points victory over Zhilei Zhang 16 months ago, he has only been in action briefly: in February, he defeated Martin Bakole in two rounds.
Now the unbeaten Briton Fabio Wardley (19-0-1, 18 knockouts) is to be his opponent. The WBA interim champion has recently delivered spectacular knockouts: In March, he knocked out Justis Huni with a cracking right hook, despite being well behind beforehand. Back in October 2024, he dismantled Frazer Clarke within one round. A duel between Parker and Wardley would be a real endurance test for both – and possibly a foretaste of future world championship fights.
Text by Robin Josten