Fabio Wardley promised to keep “riding the wave” and insisted he would fight undisputed world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in his garden after a dramatic stoppage of Joseph Parker.
In a pulsating contest at the O2 Arena, Wardley showed he has one of the toughest chins in the sport as he swallowed several huge punches from Parker before securing the biggest victory of his 21-fight career.
The WBO ordered Parker (36-4, 24KOs) to face undisputed world heavyweight champion Usyk in July but the New Zealander put his mandatory challenger status on the line against Wardley, who was still involved in white-collar boxing when his opponent was world champion in 2016.
Parker promised to be a “different level” to the 30-year-old and that appeared the case for much of the bout in London.
Wardley (20-0-1, 19KOs) seemed to have missed out on the chance to stop the bout in a back-and-forth second round and again in the 10th, which appeared a sliding doors moments for the Ipswich right-hander.
Yet Wardley went to the well and roared back with a huge right to wobble Parker in the 11th and a flurry of further punches forced a dramatic stoppage by referee Howard Foster to continue his fairytale in the sport.
Asked if Wembley was the dream destination to face Usyk, Wardley said: “Yeah… I don’t know, I think I would like to go overseas, I would like to do somewhere overseas, bigger, something different.
“Maybe America? I haven’t been able to go over there yet. Ultimately, it could be in my back garden, I wouldn’t care.
“Tell Usyk to turn up, give him the directions to Ipswich, I’ll give him my postcode, he can come find me and we’ll do it in my garden. I don’t care. As long as he is there, bring his belts, let’s get this on.
“That has been the goal now for a number of years, that has been the one I wanted and the objective. We are there.
“It is a wild one to say, but one of the generational talents, one of the best to ever do it and the one with all the marbles. There is nothing more I could ask for, there is nothing more I could want in the sport.
“Just like everything else that has led me here, all I have ever asked for is the opportunity. And I have got that.
“I am not planning on stopping here. I am not planning on getting in the ring with Usyk and rolling over. That is not what I am about. When that bell does go, me and Usyk finally get into the ring, he’s going to have to work for it.”
The decision by referee Foster to halt the fight in the 11th round sparked controversy on social-media, but Parker was only able to land three punches in comparison to 26 from Wardley out of an attempted 52 in an explosive round.
“I am just riding the wave. Look, it has been a wild ride, a wild journey and it is nowhere near finished yet. I still have a lot more I want to do, a lot more to achieve in the sport and there is way more to come,” Wardley insisted.
Parker was magnanimous in defeat.
“Congratulations to Fabio Wardley for a tough fight,” he said. “A warrior, at the end of the fight, I thought I was fine, but I am not the ref.
“I wanted to carry on, of course.
“Listen, it sucks. It sucks to lose a fight. I am not going to pretend I am happy, but life goes on.”
