Iron-Chinned Fabio Wardley TKOs Joseph Parker in a London Humdinger

In a riveting slugfest, Fabio Wardley walked through fire to emerge victorious, stopping former world heavyweight title-holder Joseph Parker in the 11^th round.

Wardley was 19-0 (18 KOs) heading in, but with no amateur experience (his portal to the pro game was white-collar boxing), the 30-year-old Ipswich man was considered too raw for Parker who had turned his career around after hooking up with trainer Andy Lee and entered the bout on a 6-fight winning streak.

Wardley looked out of his league in the opening round, but rebounded with a big second stanza, buzzing Parker on several occasions. With 31 seconds remaining in the round, Parker spit out his mouthpiece, buying precious seconds. Although Parker stayed on his feet, one could have easily scored this a 10-8 round. But through the middle rounds, beginning in round four, Parker, a 7/2 favorite, had the best of it. He demonstrated a better variety of punches and landed some brutal shots which Wardley, with his iron chin and great powers of recuperation, shook off.

Round 10 was a doozy, a see-saw round in which Wardley had the best of the late-going. That set the stage for the dramatic finish. It ended with Parker pinned against the ropes and Wardley flailing away. There was a look of surprise on Parker’s face when referee Howard Foster stepped in, waiving the bout off at the 1:54 mark of round 11. The stoppage struck many as premature, but the Kiwi did not protest.

Through the completed rounds, Parker, who suffered his fourth defeat in 40 fights, was ahead 98-92 and 96-94 with the third judge having it even at 95-95.

This was the second straight fight in which Fabio Wardley pulled a rabbit out of a hat. He was decisively out-boxed for nine rounds by Justis Huni on his home soil in Ipswich before ending the contest with a one-punch knockout.

Wardley had lead trainer Ben Davison and former TSS contributor Lee Wylie in his corner. Once considered little more than Tyson Fury’s reconditioner, Davison has proved himself to be an elite boxing coach. Now he has a more daunting assignment, preparing Fabio Wardley for unified champion Oleksandr Usyk which promoter Frank Warren says will happen next for Wardley (most likely in the late spring of 2026).

Other Bouts of Note

In a humdrum 12-round cruiserweight bout that drew occasional catcalls from the crowd impatient for the main event to get started, Juergen Uldedaj, a Germany-based Albanian, successfully defended his fringe IBO world title with a lopsided decision over Rolly Lambert Fogoum. The scores were 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110.

Uldejaj advanced to 21-1. The obscure Fogoum, a 36-year-old Dubai-based Cameroonian, declined to 18-4-1.

Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor (13-0, 9 KOs) scored a ninth-round stoppage of teak-tough but overmatched Steve Woodall (20-4-1) who took the fight on five days’ notice, replacing British and Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmundson who pulled out with a hip injury. The spunky Woodall was on his feet but had eaten a lot of leather when the match was halted.

In his first 10-rounder, classy, 21-year-old southpaw Royston Barney-Smith, a former two-time European amateur champion, improved to 15-0 (7) and stamped himself a fighter to watch in the 130-pound weight class with a lopsided decision over previously undefeated Danny Quartermaine (13-1-1). The judges had it 98-90 and 100-88 twice. Quartermaine had a point deducted for rough-housing in round seven after numerous warnings and Barney-Smith, with Ben Davison and Lee Wylie in his corner, punctuated his victory by knocking Quartermaine to one knee with a short right hook in the waning moments of the fight.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry

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