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Fabio Wardley put on a career-best performance to beat Joseph Parker and become the mandatory challenger for undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk The inexperienced Wardley entered the fight with the former world champion Parker as the underdog, with questions over his boxing ability and how it would stand up against someone of the Kiwi’s pedigree. But in front of a home crowd and with a shot at undisputed glory on the line, Wardley produced his best pure boxing performance to date and overwhelmed a tired Parker late on to clinch a stoppage win. But what was so much better about Wardley’s boxing that allowed him to get the better of what was widely considered to be the second-best active heavyweight in the world? The cornerstone of any high-level boxer is the jab – it not only acts as a quick and easy way to score points but also as a way of setting up more dangerous shots to follow it up. It allows a fighter to know exactly where their opponent is in physical space and in which ways they will defend or move when a jab is headed their way. This was something that Wardley had been missing in his game – a pinpoint jab that allows him to more accurately land his powerful punches. He had previously relied on his power and aggression to get past his opponents – but this past weekend, his jab was an excellent asset, which Parker may not have been expecting. Wardley’s snaking, low left hand allowed him to snap it up at Parker from just below his eye line and took his rival by surprise, who would have been laser-focused on Wardley’s right hand. Possessing the power Wardley does makes his jab more effective, not because the jab is more powerful, but because his opponents will be much more worried about the power coming in from his right hand. He used this to great effect, landing more jabs, which allowed him to time his shots and be much more accurate. Stemming from his good work behind the jab, Wardley was much more accurate and was able to catch Parker both on the counter and when advancing. By using his jab to touch Parker and temporarily blind his vision to the incoming fire, Wardley managed to land a lot of right uppercuts on Parker, which is one of the hardest punches to time and be accurate with in the whole sport. By establishing his range and jab before Parker, it gave him an instant advantage in their exchanges – a great example of this came in the 10th round when Parker threw out a stiff jab and Wardley beautifully slipped and countered with an uppercut that wobbled Parker. Wardley also used jab and foot feints to force Parker onto his back foot and draw out defensive movements which revealed his patterns to the Brit. This is a telltale sign of an intelligent boxer. By using his jab feints, he would subconsciously register Parker’s slip to the inside of his jab and the next time he would throw a jab or feint, he would follow it up with the uppercut where he knew Parker’s head would be. To exemplify this improvement in accuracy and timing, all we need to do is look at the Compubox punch statistics from the fight. Parker and Wardley’s jabs were almost exactly as accurate as the others, but Wardley’s accuracy with his power punches was 44.2% versus Parker’s 33.5% and Wardley threw nearly 30 more. Wardley has always been an imposing figure, even for a heavyweight, standing 6’ 5” and regularly weighing in excess of 240lbs. But he has never been one to exploit that, preferring to use his speed and explosiveness to overcome his opponents thus far. At the weigh-in for his fight, it was clear that Parker was looking for a big statement, tipping the scales at 262.5 lbs – which would have been a career heaviest had he not weighed 267lbs for his last fight against Martin Bakole. Wardley weighed in 20lbs lighter at 242lbs, but possesses a large frame that he used to his advantage. He didn’t allow Parker to get too close by using his lead forearm to frame Parker, and also his much longer arms to tangle Parker up when he tried to get his work off on the inside. Parker did his best to try and force Wardley back in the early goings, but the Brit did not yield the centre of the ring easily and rarely found himself touching the ropes, standing his ground and using his head movement to avoid the initial shots before taking a backward step. Before the fight, Wardley was being criticised for being a very hittable target, based on his last fight with Justis Huni and his first fight with Frazer Clarke. His low left-hand and shoulder-roll defence were points of specific concern ahead of fight night. But against Parker, Wardley did a fantastic job of making Parker miss when he would eventually get close enough to throw. This is not to say he did not take any punishment, because he took plenty, but the shots Wardley was able to make miss, if they had landed, could have drastically changed the course of the fight. Despite his lack of amateur schooling and all-round experience, Wardley displayed an impressive defensive awareness to slip and roll Parker’s shots on the back foot, something he had been noted for struggling with. The shoulder roll defence that was able to take the sting out of a lot of Parker’s overhand rights worked well, with Wardley deploying it to a standard beyond his level of experience. But the other side of the coin is the effect that it had on Parker. Throwing a shot and missing expends much more energy than hitting the target, as the shot has to travel much more distance and requires a much longer and more energy-sapping reset to get back into position. This takes effect down the stretch when we saw Wardley take over as Parker began to tire, in part due to the number of shots he was missing the target with. After 11 rounds of throwing the kitchen sink at one another, both Wardley and Parker were exhausted, but Parker was ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards, and Wardley would have been told he needed to get to work by his corner. That is exactly what he did, and credit must be given to Wardley’s strength and conditioning team, who have turned Wardley into a 12-round fighter. With almost nothing left in the tank, Wardley dug deep and threw almost 40 unanswered punches, which, in the early rounds, would have been a mistake. But seeing that Parker didn’t seem able to keep pace, Wardley pressed on and forced the referee to step in. Whether or not you saw the stoppage as premature, it is undeniable that Wardley found another gear that Parker did not possess in the 11th round, which any world champion hopeful needs if they want to topple Usyk. If Wardley hopes to stand a chance against the best heavyweight of this generation, he cannot rest on his laurels and be content with the skills he has now, hoping to land one punch to end the fight. Many have tried and failed before him to go into the fight riding on having a puncher’s chance. Having the fitness to box 12 rounds at pace will be one of the most important aspects of this because Usyk loves to make heavyweights work hard early and capitalise in the middle and late rounds when they begin to fade. Continuing to build on the effectiveness of his jab is also essential, as Tyson Fury showed in his first fight with Usyk that a sharp jab from range can pose problems to the Ukrainian. But Usyk will be a much harder target to hit, as you can count on two hands the number of times he has been hit flush by a heavyweight. Usyk is also a southpaw, which opens Pandora’s box for Wardley, who has only ever faced two southpaws – neither of whom come close to the skill level of Usyk. So he will have to adapt his defensive skills to suit a left-hander. Wardley will need to be at his very best and have developed the skills he showed on Saturday night even further under the tutelage of Ben Davison to have any chance against the undisputed king. But he showed tremendous heart to get the better of Parker, and that will take him a long way as he bids to cap off his fairytale story by winning championship gold. Joshua Buatsi vs. Zach Parker is live on DAZN this Saturday night, November 1. Watch the fight and whole card with a DAZN subscription.
