Fabio Wardley has been calling for a clash with fellow heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk since becoming WBO champion, and after hearing that the Ukrainian is planning to face him, the Briton gave a surprising reaction.
Wardley knocked out Joseph Parker in an upset win to get his hands on the WBO Interim world title back in October, seemingly teeing up a showdown with then undisputed ruler, Usyk, given he had assumed position as his mandatory challenger.
However, rather than fulfilling the mandatory and taking on Wardley, Usyk opted to vacate his full WBO world title, with Wardley being upgraded to a world champion as a result.
Since then, Wardley has been demanding a shot at Usyk and the chance to claim to coveted undisputed crown, but to no avail. Instead, Usyk has accepted a left-field showdown with kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven.
Speaking with iFL TV, Wardley reacted to the news of him being on Usyk’s hit-list, but admitted that he has taken those words ‘with a pinch of salt’, after previous false hope of landing a fight with the undefeated pound-for-pound star.
“It is nice to be on the list, it is nice to be in the conversation, I would have always assumed that I would have been.
“I still take it with a pinch of salt because before the Parker fight I was having conversations with him, before the [announcement of] the Dubois fight I was having conversations with him. So, it’s like ‘yeah, but we will see’, I am not banking on it.
“I am not going to go, ‘yeah, I have done the Dubois fight, Usyk now’, because you never know how this game is going to play out, how it is going to work, what they are going to want and whatever.
“It is great to be on the list, it is great to be included. I welcome it with open arms, any day, any time, but we will see how the chips fall.”
Before Wardley can see whether Usyk will stick to his word, he must retain his WBO world title in an attempted first defence against former IBF ruler Daniel Dubois on Saturday, May 9.
