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How one lesson from Justis Huni fight puts Fabio Wardley in a strong position to beat Joseph Parker
With every fight that comes his way, Fabio Wardley has taken a step up and embraced the challenge.
Coming from the world of White Collar, many would not have envisaged Wardley’s rise to British and now WBA interim heavyweight champion.
This past June, Wardley was rewarded for his efforts with a stadium homecoming at Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town Football Club. He was going up against Australia’s Justis Huni who at the time was 12-0 and had a superior boxing pedigree with considerable experience as an amateur.
For much of the contest, Huni was causing all sorts of problems for Wardley who struggled to gain any foothold in the fight. Down on all three scorecards in round 10, Wardley produced a moment of magic with a right hand, rendering Huni unable to continue and becoming the victor.
Once more Wardley is having to make another step up on Saturday night when he takes on former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, live on DAZN PPV.
Parker is one of the heavyweight division’s most in-form fighters. Impressive wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole in February have put him on the cusp of a meeting with undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.
It’s no secret that Parker will be the favourite, but even if Wardley does find himself on the back foot, one key reflection from the Huni win will keep the Ipswich man confident he can still get the win.
“I think the most obvious one is, even if I'm behind in the fight, it does matter in that I want to put on good performances, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. There's still time on the clock, I'm still able to get a victory and pull off the win, that was the main takeaway,” Wardley said.
“But in terms of the fight itself, his skill set and capabilities, facing off against someone different like that... someone who is very quick with his hands and very quick with his feet; those were different tricks I had to figure out on the night.”
Would Wardley have benefitted from an early finish against Huni? He is not too convinced when reflecting on how he dissected the knockout performance at Portman Road.
“We got past that fight, went home and reviewed the tape and found whole new areas I had to work on,” Wardley continued.
“So, I'm going into this fight with a lot more knowledge of myself than I would have if I had steamrolled him in a couple of rounds or cruised through the fight.”
Parker was last knocked out three years ago when Joe Joyce unleashed a brutal beatdown at Manchester’s AO Arena.
While Wardley would have to produce a career best performance to create a similar outcome, these seem to be coming naturally to him with every passing contest, and for any heavyweight fighter, regardless of ability, an always developing Wardley is a serious threat.
Watch Parker vs. Wardley live on DAZN
Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight on Saturday, October 25, to become the WBO mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk. Watch the fight and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.
