Reality hits Fabio Wardley, career takes flight as major heavyweight player entering 2026
Fabio Wardley was sitting in the departure lounge at Heathrow Airport with his partner and young daughter when the phone rang.
A little more than a week had passed since he registered the best win of his career to date, an 11th-round stoppage of Joseph Parker at London’s O2 Arena, and he was off on holiday with his family to celebrate.
Although that victory had gleaned the WBO interim title, he did not expect to board the plane to Dubai that day as the 11th world heavyweight titleholder in Great Britain’s history. He had no idea that Oleksandr Usyk had decided to vacate his title instead of arranging a fight with him, thus elevating Wardley to the top spot.
“I answered the phone and it was my management team explaining the situation,” Wardley tells The Ring.
“They just told me what was going to happen, how it’s going to go and that it should come out in the next few hours to give me a heads up. They said congratulations and everything then hung up. It was a bit like someone calling you quickly and telling you you’ve won the lottery and you’re like, 'Right, OK. Cheers.'
“It’s a strange way to win a world title. I put the phone down and now I’m world champion but before that I wasn’t. I put the phone down and just stared off into space for a second. I thought, 'I’m world champion, am I? I better update my Instagram.'
“It did not feel real. Nothing changes in that moment, but everything changes. Immediately in that moment, everyone thinks it's all gone crazy but it hasn’t really. I still got on the plane, the pilot on the plane didn't bow at my feet or anything.”
Given he had just four white-collar fights and now 21 as a professional, Wardley’s surge to his new position as world heavyweight titlist is undoubtedly the fastest in history. His promoter allegedly described the feat as one of the most incredible stories he’d seen in his 45 years in the game but, despite that achievement, the 30-year-old from Ipswich admits his surreal airport phone call was not exactly how he would have liked to have claimed the belt.
“It's dumb to say that there's a way to grumble about winning a world title,” he said. “But I guess this is it.
“The most annoying thing from my perspective is why didn’t Usyk just vacate his belt before me and Joseph fought? Because now I’ve got to defend it to really feel like I've earned it and whatever else.
“But if it was actually on the line in that fight, which, for all intents and purposes it was, then that would have been a solid way to win the world title. If you were going to give it up eventually anyway, then you should have just put it on the line.”
Usyk's decision to vacate the WBO belt capped a curious few months for the two-time undisputed champion from Ukraine. He knocked out Daniel Dubois to reclaim the IBF belt at Wembley Stadium in July with what was arguably his best performance at heavyweight.
The Ring Magazine champion was then mandated to face Parker, who was the WBO’s interim beltholder, but he was granted a medical extension on that requirement because of a back injury, despite a video surfacing of a seemingly injury-free Usyk dancing. While he recovered, Parker opted to fight Wardley instead of waiting around. It is a decision that he may now regret.
It has been suggested that Usyk held onto his belt in case Parker beat Wardley and would have pressed ahead with a defence of his undisputed title against the New Zealander in that case. However, when Wardley knocked out Parker, Usyk decided not to pursue a clash with him.
Instead, he has spoken openly of his desire to face former WBC champion Deontay Wilder, the 40-year-old Bronze Bomber who has lost four of his last five 12-rounders. Negotiations are underway. In Wardley’s eyes, it is an unusual case of cherry-picking by Usyk.
“If you look at Usyk he seems like the type of guy who does not cherry-pick his opponents,” Wardley says. “But then he picks someone like Wilder who has barely fought for the last year or so.
“But don't get me wrong, he's also earned the right to do what he wants. He beat Tyson Fury twice, beat Anthony Joshua twice, beat Daniel Dubois twice. He has earned a bit of a right to fight who he wants, but it just seems out of character.
“I think it's just because he set that precedent for himself, people have a certain expectation that he’s not the guy that does that. He’s the guy that always takes on the hardest challenge around. So him not doing that just makes people think hang on, what's going on here? What are you doing? What are you up to?”
The same can now be asked of The Ring’s No.2-rated Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs), who will return from his lengthy holiday before putting his feet up for his first Christmas as the world heavyweight titleholder and also his first as a dad.
There is an expectation that he should return around March or April with the WBO still yet to deliver what a statement described as the "next relevant steps regarding Wardley’s first mandatory defence, including timelines, challenger designation and any additional measures required pursuant to WBO regulations."
Moses Itauma, his fellow undefeated Brit and Ben Davison stablemate, is No. 1 with the WBO while Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang sit second and third. Dubois, still yet to box again following his defeat to Usyk, is fourth.
“The heavyweight division is stacked all the way through to be honest,” Wardley says. “There are fights at every level as well and they're all good for a different reason or another, whether they're a good story or they're a good style matchup or there's a bit of history between some fighters.
“But there's just a bunch there for everyone to have a pick at. I don't think the next few years are going to be quiet for me at all. As long as there are good fights out there for me, I'm willing to give them a go."
The task at hand for Wardley is to ensure his legacy does not start and stop as history’s first departure lounge champ.
