Joseph Parker suffered his fourth defeat of his career this past weekend, but has already been offered a way back.
Parker has now fought 40 times, often at the very top level, and in the last year had found the form of his life under coach Andy Lee.
The former WBO world champion outpointed both Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder in 2024 and this year stopped Martin Bakole inside two rounds despite him calling himself the most avoided heavyweight on the planet.
He went into the WBO eliminator with Fabio Wardley as the favourite and indeed won most of the rounds, but in the 11th, Wardley found some big shots that hurt Parker and forced the referee to step in and stop him on his feet, some think controversially.
A few days on from the fight whilst speaking to Ariel Helwani, Wardley was asked if he was open to a rematch.
“Yeah, of course. Joe is a great guy, I’d like to thank him for the opportunity. He didn’t have to take that fight, everyone knows that. He’d been on a great run. He was edging his way to Usyk, and credit to him as a man and as a fighter and a boxer cause he is a hell of a competitor and I’d happily welcome the rematch.
“It was a fantastic fight, a great fight, the controversy over the stoppage aside, no one came away from that fight saying it was boring or wasn’t intriguing or interesting. It ebbed and flowed all the way through and had everything in that sense. We’ll see how this Usyk thing goes and how it plays out, but I’d be happy to rematch him.”
If a rematch with Parker wasn’t to happen next, Wardley could instead pursue Usyk for his rightful shot at a WBO world title.
