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Is Fabio Wardley the UK's answer to Deontay Wilder?
Fabio Wardley has been enjoying a fast rise through the heavyweight ranks, boosted by his devastating knockout power that has now left him just one more win away from a shot at the undisputed heavyweight titles.
He will first have to defeat one of the highest-rated heavyweight contenders and WBO interim champion, Joseph Parker, to give himself a chance of achieving his dreams.
Parker is a heavy favourite heading into the fight due to his vast experience at the top level, being a former world champion, and his more traditionally-schooled style.
But one thing that Wardley has proven in his limited experience at the upper echelons of the heavyweight division is that he can never be written off – he will always have at least a puncher’s chance, and across 12 rounds, that’s all he might need to catch Parker with one of his lights-out shots.
Because of this, Wardley has attracted comparisons between himself and Deontay Wilder. Whilst today that might not seem like a compliment, Wilder is a former long-reigning WBC heavyweight champion and has knocked out almost every opponent he has ever beaten.
But how far do the similarities run, what has Wardley done to warrant them, and will he prove them right this weekend?
Late arrivals to boxing
Both men, by the standard of any era, were incredibly late arrivals to the sport. Wardley did not don a pair of gloves for the first time until he was 21 years old and Wilder was 20, the age many greats of the sport had won their first world title by.
Wardley was a footballer in his youth and played for his hometown Ipswich Town’s academy, when boxing was not even on his radar.
It was not until injuries had taken him away from football that Wardley stepped into a gym, but even then, he had no intention of becoming a fighter.
Whilst his opponent for this weekend was winning his first world title against Andy Ruiz in 2016, Wardley was working as a recruiter in London and was boxing on the side before deciding to try a white-collar show.
This gave Wardley the boxing bug, and after just four white-collar fights, he turned professional and is now undefeated in 20 fights.
Wilder initially got into boxing to pay for his daughter’s medical treatments, who was born with Spina Bifida, which is a birth defect that causes the spine not to develop properly in the womb.
His only chance at paying for this was to get into the ring, and he has admitted he expected to be a journeyman rather than a future heavyweight champion.
Two years after picking up the sport, Wilder had an amateur title and Olympic bronze medal to his name and entered the professional ranks, becoming one of the most fearsome punchers the heavyweight division has ever seen.
Leigh Dawney/Queensberry
Stylistic similarities
A late start, whilst not decisive in the success of a fighter, does impact how technically polished a boxer is when they become a professional.
Both Wilder and Wardley, due to their late arrivals and eagerness to enter the professional game, had truncated periods of fundamental education, which means they both possess unorthodox styles.
But rather than impede their progress, it has actually served as an ungainly way for them both to become destructive and unpredictable opponents.
Their lack of traditional schooling, paired with their knockout power, means that they can launch attacks from angles or positions an opponent will not be expecting, as it does not fit in with the usual patterns of defence and attack.
David Haye, former cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion, offered his analysis on Wardley's style.
“It’s hard to read someone who isn’t sort of boxing from the traditional playbook,” Haye explained to The Sun. “When he does finally land a shot, it’s coming from an angle that you weren’t expecting, and next thing you know, you’re on your bum looking up at him."
Whilst they both have an uncanny ability to produce power from anywhere and steal ill-got gains by using their power and athleticism to overrule fighters who are perhaps better boxers, there are drawbacks to their unconventional style.
For Wardley and Wilder, what they have in offensive prowess, they lack in defensive savvy.
Both men struggle to box on their back foot. We saw this for Wilder in his second and third fights with Tyson Fury, and for Wardley, the same happened against Justis Huni.
If their opponents are intelligent enough in their boxing to force a small retreat, then their defensive skills seem to be lacking, and they become very hittable targets.
Wilder's shortcomings saw him knocked out by Fury twice, while Wardley was considerably behind on the scorecards against Huni.
One-punch knockout power
The most glaringly obvious similarity between Wardley and Wilder is their out-of-this-world knockout power, which, as a fighter, is a valuable asset to have as it is the last one to leave as they age.
They have two of the best knockout ratios in the entire sport. Wilder has knocked out 43 of 44 (98%) opponents he has beaten, and Wardley has knocked out 18 out of 19 (95%) of his.
This fight for changing power is what saw both men rise so rapidly through the ranks as young contenders without having to prove their technical ability. Of Wardley’s first six fights, four of them were first-round knockouts, and of Wilder’s first 10 fights, eight of them lasted less than three minutes.
Despite their perceived lack of high-level technical ability, their freak power has allowed Wilder to become a world champion and Wardley to be one fight away from a shot at undisputed.
An example of this level of power, as one of the best equalisers in the sport, is when we have seen both men with their backs against the wall against better and more polished fighters.
In 2019, Deontay Wilder fought a rematch with top contender Luis Ortiz after beating him in their first meeting. But this time, Wilder could not get his work going and was stifled by Ortiz’s defensive skills and shot variation.
By the time the seventh round arrived, Wilder was comfortably behind on all three judges’ scorecards and didn’t look like finding the target. Then out of nowhere, Ortiz allowed Wilder off the ropes, and he detonated a singular right hand that wiped out the Cuban and saved Wilder from defeat.
Wardley left it even later in his last fight against Huni, where he looked out of his depth for 10 rounds and had won one round on two of the scorecards.
Huni was cruising to a breakout victory and perhaps was too overconfident when he walked into a Wardley right hand that ended the fight on the spot as Huni could not make the referee’s count.
- Read next | How one lesson from Justis Huni fight puts Fabio Wardley in a strong position to beat Joseph Parker
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How are they different?
Whilst there are some very interesting similarities between Wardley and Wilder, it is also important to emphasise that they are both different fighters, who have taken and will take very different paths in their career.
The Brit only had four unlicensed fights before he turned over, which is unprecedented for a modern-era fighter, especially to find as much success as Wardley has. Whereas Wilder did take a more traditional route – fighting as an amateur, winning a national title and claiming an Olympic bronze medal like so many legendary heavyweight champions before him.
It could also be said of Wilder that he did not face a higher calibre of opponent until much more recently, not coming across a recognisable opponent until he had 30 fights in his career, while he didn’t become a world champion until his 35th fight.
Wardley has been more willing to put it on the line to make faster progress. An easy way to compare this would be a shared opponent.
Wilder did not face Eric Molina until his 34th fight and when he was already a world champion, whereas Wardley took on the American in only his 11th fight.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Is Wardley the new Wilder?
There is no doubt that Wardley is well on his way to becoming a world-class heavy hitter, and the comparisons to Wilder are warranted in that sense.
But even though Wilder has been on a career downturn headed into his 40s, it would be unfair to levy the comparisons before Wardley has had his chance to prove it on the world stage like Wilder did in his five-year reign as heavyweight champion, knocking out all but one of the contenders he faced.
Wardley does have the opportunity to offer credence to these comparisons this weekend, though, if he can topple a bona fide former world champion like Parker - especially if he can do it spectacularly, just as Wilder did fight after fight on his rise to the top.
Watch Parker vs. Wardley live only on DAZN
Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight this Saturday, October 25, to become the WBO mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk. Watch the fight and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.
