Fabio Wardley eyes statement win over Joseph Parker to earn Oleksandr Usyk shot

Fabio Wardley admitted he is at the “defining moment” of his career as he looks to put himself in pole position to face Oleksandr Usyk by beating Joseph Parker on October 25.

Undisputed world heavyweight champion Usyk was last week given a 90-day medical extension by the WBO, which in July had ordered the unbeaten Ukrainian to take on its mandatory challenger Parker next.

Rather than wait for Usyk to fulfil his obligation, or vacate or be stripped of his WBO crown, Parker has taken matters into his own hands by agreeing to fight WBA interim title-holder Wardley at the O2 Arena.

If Wardley can add Parker’s WBO interim belt to his own WBA strap then the Briton will catapult himself to the front of the queue for a world-title shot, and he intends to seize his opportunity.

“(It is a) huge moment in my career – the defining moment, probably,” Wardley told a press conference. “I am committed to the saying of ‘big fights only’.

“I’ve not come here to play around – I’ve not made it this far in my career to just hang about and wait for things to be handed to me, I’m very much a go-getter.

“I made my way through the WBA rankings and got myself into a fantastic position there, but if that’s not going to go how we planned, I’m not just going to sit in the wings and wait.

“While Oleksandr Usyk is tied up at the moment, there is no other better competitor in the division right now than the number two man: Joseph Parker.”

Wardley is unbeaten in his 20-fight professional career and 18 of his 19 wins have been via stoppage, including dramatic knockouts of Frazer Clarke and Justis Huni in the past 12 months.

Parker, the WBO champion between 2016 and 2018, is a step up for Ipswich-born Wardley, who insisted he will prove he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the big names in the division.

“People maybe still have reservations and question marks so October 25 is where I wipe that all clean by beating Joseph Parker,” added Wardley, who was behind on the scorecards against Huni.

“I don’t know if I dodged a bullet (by beating Huni), I just knocked out the man holding the gun. It just says ‘win’, that’s all that matters. It’s finding a way to win and that is innate in me.

“I understand that the challenge is a different one than Justis Huni but I asked for this fight. I have full confidence in myself that I’m at this level and able to beat and knockout Joseph Parker.”

New Zealand’s Parker, who at 33 is three years older than Wardley, is on a six-fight winning streak since suffering the third defeat of a 39-bout career, when he was knocked out by Joe Joyce in 2022.

Parker was the underdog against big-punching duo Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang but outpointed both while he most recently flattened late replacement Martin Bakole inside two rounds in February.

“Walking towards the fire, I love the fire,” Parker said. “I’ve fought a lot of fighters out there with big punches and they haven’t really been able to get me out of there.

“I want to give credit to Fabio Wardley for taking this fight. We could have sat and waited for Usyk, but we as fighters are showing we’ll fight anyone, anytime.”