By James Hicken
Copyright independent
Fabio Wardley has revealed he could fight his stablemate Moses Itauma one day – but only once they have both reached world champion status.
Wardley, 19-0-1 (18), and Itauma, 13-0 (11), are both under the guidance of world champion trainer Ben Davison, and Wardley believes they both have more than enough to be getting on with before they need to have an awkward conversation in the gym.
“Who knows where the future is going to go? Wardley told Sky Sports. “Right now, me and Moses, we’re both on our own courses.
“We both need to grab our world titles first, before we’re able to have some conversations, maybe about crossing swords ourselves.
“But there’s enough out there right now for the pair of us to have a go at and just occupy ourselves with before we need to start having a serious think about us maybe getting in the ring at the same time.”
Itauma is currently scheduled to return to the ring on December 13 in Manchester, with David Adeleye and Michael Hunter emerging as the frontrunners to face him. Victory would take Itauma one step closer to a world title after he demolished Dillian Whyte in less than a round in August.
Wardley and Itauma share a promotional banner as well as a trainer, and have ambitions of winning a world title in the next year, which means they will be unlikely to get matched up before they have their shot.
There is no doubt that Queensberry are the dominant force in the heavyweight division with 11 of Frank Warren’s fighters vying for a world title shot, and eight of them are ranked in The Ring’s top ten heavyweights, excluding the undisputed champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk is the man Wardley has his sights set on for the near future as he prepares to face the WBO interim champion and current mandatory challenger to the Ukrainian, Joseph Parker, later this month. If Wardley can pull off an upset and beat Parker, he will become the next in line for Usyk’s title, or he could be the happy recipient of a title elevation if Usyk vacates or gets stripped.
That would make a fight with Itauma a very real possibility in the next 12 months.
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