It is not yet known who Fabio Wardley will box in the first defence of his WBO heavyweight title, but we do know he won’t be boxing Oleksandr Usyk, the one-time owner of that belt, anytime soon.
Usyk, the division’s number one, recently elected to surrender the WBO strap in favour of exploring other options, which in turn left Wardley, the number one challenger, receiving it in the post, essentially, rather than in the ring. That, of course, is not the way Wardley will have wanted to be crowned world champion, but alas, there was little he could do about it. Besides, with the belt now his, Wardley, 20-0-1 (19 KOs), has sudden bargaining power in the heavyweight division and will, in his next fight, enter the ring as champion, a distinction few boxers will get to experience in their career.
As for when that next fight, and first defence, takes place, April would seem the likeliest time. That’s according to Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, who told talkSPORT that the disappointment of not securing the Usyk fight for his man has been allayed only by the prospect of Wardley getting the chance to build on his fine win against Joseph Parker in October and establishing himself as a world champion.
“Before the [Parker] fight, Usyk did say he’d fight the winner,” said Warren. “And now he’s changed his mind. He obviously feels the risk to the reward isn’t justified.
“I think we’d have sold out a football stadium for the fight; we could have done the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“But we will see where we go. Fabio will be returning to the ring in April now. I am meeting up with him and his manager next week.
“We are going to get some lunch and decide what we are doing. There are plenty of options.”
Though it is true that there are options for Wardley, still he finds himself in a bit of a strange situation, psychologically more than anything. After all, his career to this point has been one of building, chasing and surprising, with all focus on the eventual goal of fighting the best heavyweight in the world and then dethroning him. Now, though, through no fault of his own, he seems to have had that mission cut short, just when it was gathering pace. Now he has been forced to wear the hat and robe of a world champion without being asked if either item fits. Now he finds consolation only in the fact that dressing like a world champion is almost as good as feeling like one. Almost, but not quite.
In Wardley’s case, perhaps the feeling of having earned it will come in time – following a few successful defences – rather than the way he had hoped it would come: by shocking Oleksandr Usyk, the world’s best, on a night to remember. Perhaps the hand-me-down clothes of a world champion he will have to simply grow into.
