Fabio Wardley was “hugely disappointed” he wasn’t rewarded for his dramatic victory over Joseph Parker by a fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Wardley, 31, was elevated to the status of WBO heavyweight champion in the weeks after stopping Parker in the 11th round of one of the fights of 2025 after Usyk vacated the title and therefore his status as undisputed champion.
He and Parker had been confident that victory that October night at London’s O2 Arena would lead to the biggest fight of their career, and while it proved transformative for Wardley – who will make the first defence of his title at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena against Daniel Dubois on May 9 – it was ultimately also bittersweet.
The Englishman is frustrated that he didn’t win his title in the ring and that his biggest victory didn’t directly secure what he described as his “crowning moment”. It is for that reason that he is particularly relishing the contest with Dubois – there exists an opportunity for him to correct the relative sense of “anticlimax” that followed.
“Hugely, hugely disappointed,” he responded when asked about not securing Usyk as an opponent. “More so probably because before the Parker fight both me and Parker were negotiating back and forth with Usyk to get him, basically, to agree to say ‘I’ll relinquish the belt – you can fight for it on the night but whoever wins obviously has to fight me again for it’.
“We were going through that, we agreed our side, and just because of that conversation I thought well if he’s agreed it like that then he’ll fight me surely. So when I won the fight I thought ‘Yeah I’ve got the Usyk fight because I was only dealing with him a few weeks ago’, so we must be having it.
“It is massively disappointing but it’s not the only massive fight out there – it’s not the only big fight out there so there’s other ways to go.
“It does feel like I’ve been robbed of my crowning moment. That’s probably the biggest gripe of the whole thing for me. The most aggravating bit was why didn’t you just [vacate the title] beforehand, because if you go do it like a week or two later then you’re taking the piss?
“There’s no reason. I can’t think of a rational reason as to why, because either way I’m going to fight you. If you relinquish it and I win the belt on the night I’ll fight you for it next.
“I guess [the way I became champion was] almost anticlimactic in a sense because I’ve spent years watching people win world titles and it’s in the ring and the cheer and the crowd and you raise the belt and you hear ‘And the new’ and all of this and [outside of a fight] you just get it on the end of a phone call .
“That’s not to take away from it at all because, don’t get me wrong, it’s one hell of an achievement and I’m still extremely proud of it but it is still a weird way to kind of receive a world title or then crown yourself and call yourself a world champion
“But winning this fight [against Dubois] will provide me with that moment. I want to be able to win it in the ring – I want to be able to hear it. I feel like I was a bit denied the first time around.”
The belt for which Dubois, 28, and Wardley will fight is the second Wardley has already received from the WBO.
For reasons that remain unclear the first carried the nickname “The White Rhino” that has nothing to do with him and was replaced as a consequence. He regardless favoured Dubois as his opponent because he believes Dubois will appeal most to those at the Co-op Live – after Usyk he considered Dubois the most dangerous possible opponent from a shortlist that also featured Filip Hrgovic, Jared Anderson, Derek Chisora and Nelson Hysa.
“Michael [Ofo], my manager, brought [the belt] to the gym where I was,” he explained. “Hadn’t opened it because obviously he wanted me to open it. I opened it. Look at it. Nice; shiny; cool.
“And then it’s obviously got the medallions either side. For some reason, one says the date I won it but the other one says ‘Fabio Wardley, The White Rhino’.
“And I was like what the fuck is going on here then? Because it took me a little while as well. I held it. I was looking at it for a bit. I was like ‘Oh, yeah, that’s cool’. Showing it to my coach and whatever. And then I looked at it again and I thought what the fuck? White Rhino? I thought ‘Who the... What is... Dave Allen hasn’t won this title’. I think my only deduction is they got somewhere along the lines ‘White Collar Wardley’. It’s not even my nickname so I don’t even know why they stuck it on there in the first place. I’ve done it to myself. So yeah, I think that’s what happened.
“But they sent me a fresh one. Re-did it. I’ve checked it. All alright. No more Dave Allen. So yeah, all good.
“They said sorry and whatever else. What’s there to cry about? It is what it is. People be people. Human error. Whatever else. I’m not going to kick up a fuss and start having a go. There’s only a little laugh in it. No one’s hurt. It’s alright.
“I’ve got my new one. It says Fabio Wardley. I haven’t got a nickname so it doesn’t have anything on there which has the date on the other side.
“Chisora was a strong conversation [as an opponent] for a while but Chisora will be Chisora. What he wanted; how we wanted it to look, etcetera. Just wasn’t feasible; wasn’t going together. So we pivoted off that.
“The [Tyson] Fury one was very nothing. There wasn’t a lot in that. It was me with an open invitation really saying, ‘Look if you want to have it, I’ll have it’. It’s no problem at all. Give me a shout like we’ll do it. But he said obviously he wants a warm-up; wants to do all of that, so fine, really – that really didn’t go past or even reach any sort of serious conversation.
“And then there was a list the fighters offered and then the Daniel one I just picked, so I said ‘Yeah, cool, I’ll take him’. There was Daniel, Filip Hrgovic, Jared Anderson I think, and the Albanian Nelson Hysa.
“I picked him because he’s the most dangerous one. I look at it and I think where am I going to get the most credit? What’s the best fight? I also look at it from a fan perspective.
“Wardley versus Dubois – you just put that on a bit of paper and you think ‘How’s that going to look? Are people going to be excited about that?’
“People will tune in just to watch that and they’re the type of fights I want and fights I want to be associated with.
“I want people to know that Fabio Wardley is having a fight – it’s not a gimme. It’s not a soft touch; it’s not something easy. We know Fabio; we know he likes to get stuck in; we know he’s value for money; we know he’s going to put on a good show and it’s going to be against someone decent.”
