Parker vs. Wardley: Fabio Wardley stops Joseph Parker in a huge heavyweight upset

Fabio Wardley pulled off a huge upset to crush Joseph Parker’s dreams of becoming a two-time world heavyweight champion on Saturday and put himself in position to face undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.

The British fighter is now the Ukrainian’s top contender after scoring a stunning win by stopping the New Zealand veteran in the 11th round of an entertaining and bruising fight at London’s O2 Arena.

Wardley (30 years old) won the “interim” World Boxing Organization title when referee Howard Foster was forced to stop the match when he defeated former world champion Parker, who was seriously injured in the tenth minute by a strong kick to the right side.

The Ipswich native brought the crowd to their feet and collapsed to the floor in celebration as his corner team piled into the ring to celebrate.

It was great scenes as the former white collar boxer continued his remarkable rise in the professional ranks.

There was an argument that the stoppage was premature, especially since Parker controlled large portions of the fight and hurt Wardley several times with right hands.

But the 33-year-old New Zealander did not offer much controversy when Foster intervened and his coach Andy Lee did not appear to object to his man suffering his fourth career defeat.

“I’ve said all this way that we chose Joseph Parker because I believe I’m at the top and I’ve proven I’m at the top,” Wardley said.

“Credit to Joseph, he can’t get enough respect and deserves all the respect from the boxing community. He took a chance when he didn’t have to, and we knew he wasn’t going anywhere fast. We had to pick our spots and eventually got them out of there.”

It was a right uppercut from Wardley in the 10th round that put the fight back firmly in the underdog’s favor.

This was Wardley’s 20th career win and the most important for him. Usyk will now likely have to wait early next year.

Parker risked his position as number one contender to Usyk’s crown by taking this fight, resulting in his fourth career defeat.

Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, told DAZN: “Usyk said he wanted to do it, and that’s what it’s going to be. It’s a 36-minute fight and it only takes him one second.”