It may get overshadowed by the astonishing main event between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, but Fabio Wardley took full advantage of being given a part on the massive ‘Battle of the Baddest’ show. 

The British heavyweight champion was arguably the most impressive performer on a heavyweight undercard in Riyadh, bringing his heated rivalry with David Adeleye to a conclusive end, stopping the previously unbeaten Londoner in seven rounds.

After enjoying some success with some hard, fast early jabs, Adeleye spent most of the fight retreating, looking to land hard, single shots. Wardley calmly pressed forward, got his own jab working and ratcheted up the pressure. He put Adeleye over heavily in the seventh and although he got to his feet, Wardley’s follow up attack left referee, John Latham, with little option but to step in and end matters. It was a controlled, impressive performance from the unbeaten 28 year old.

Wardley (17-0, 16 KO’s) primarily trains with Robert Hodgins but brings in Ben Davison to help devise his strategies and to add an extra pair of eyes on fight night. Davison is one of the most analytical coaches in Britain and he loves it when a plan comes together. 

“Pretty much how I expected. It went a little bit longer than I anticipated to be honest but pretty much all the scenarios we worked on played out and it was a good performance,” Davison told Boxing King Media after Saturday’s fight.

“He always fights like that. I don’t know why people bought into all the talk beforehand. He gets put on the back foot every fight and Fabio put him on the back foot. It was exactly what we worked on. How that fight played out was like a drill.

“He didn’t look like he wanted to engage that much. Fabio pushed him around the ring but it was important Fabio kept his cool. He did that. It was a solid performance, he got the job done and did exactly what he prepared to do.”

Defending his British title on such a high profile stage should allow Wardley to finally shed the tag of ‘white collar boxer’ for good. In truth, it is a label he should have lost a long time ago. Wardley left the unlicensed scene behind almost seven years ago and nobody has managed to take him the distance since his debut. Adeleye joins a list of victims that includes the decent Nathan Gorman, Eric Molina and Nick Webb and as well as the British title, Wardley holds the Commonwealth belt and a couple of international belts. 

Frazer Clarke’s team’s decision to withdraw him from a purse bid to fight Wardley opened the door for Adeleye in the first place and the Olympic bronze medallist was in Saudi Arabia attempting to drum up interest in a fight and Soloman Dacres was also an interested observer in Riyadh.

Wardley has earned the right to choose which path his career takes next and Davison has a feeling that it may lead him into a massive fight.

“There is the Frazer fight, he can look at what the business is there but I also think that Fabio’s in the position where he can maybe step up as well. I think there are some fringe world level fights that might be available for him.

“Look, I’m not calling somebody out for Fabio or anything like that. I just got a hunch that they might look to do Fabio versus Joseph Parker on the Fury v Usyk card. I’ve just got a hunch. Nothing’s been said and I’ve not heard anything, I’ve just got a feeling they might look to do it."