Fabio Wardley’s stunning 11th-round stoppage of Joseph Parker on Saturday night was accompanied by a shrewd earlier chess move that sets him up for an undisputed title shot at the heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
By relinquishing his WBA interim belt just before he stepped into the ring at London’s O2 Arena, England’s Wardley, 20-0-1 (19 KOs), won eligibility to move from unranked with the WBO to become its interim champion by stopping New Zealand’s former WBO champion Parker, 36-4 (24 KOs).
The WBO does not permit the champions of other sanctioning bodies to be ranked inside of its top 15, and only top-15 and interim WBO champions are eligible for WBO title fights.
Queensberry Promotions heads Frank Warren and George Warren negotiated the strategy for the popular 30 year old who followed his victory by immediately calling out Usyk amid some outcry that the referee Howard Foster might’ve stopped the bout too quickly at a time when Parker led on the scorecards.
The WBO had ordered Usyk to next fight its interim champion in September after the unbeaten Ukrainian was forced to provide a follow-up medical examination stemming from video footage of him dancing after requesting a health delay due to back pain and other ailments.
A 90-day extension was granted following the second exam, and the man in position to challenge Usyk has since changed.
Parker, after knocking out Martin Bakole in the second round in February following an 11-month absence, opted to take the Wardley fight as Usyk healed up.
Usyk, 38, last fought in July, when knocking out the then-IBF champion Daniel Dubois in the fifth round.
