Fabio Wardley once shared the ring with Oleksandr Usyk for sparring.
Famously, Wardley has a very different background from most professional boxers. Rather than come up through the amateur circuit, he got his start in the white-collar scene before turning over in 2017.
Since then, he has won 20 of 21 fights with just one draw against Frazer Clarke, which he avenged in style with a first-round knockout in 2024. He has also knocked out Justis Huni and Joseph Parker in his two most recent contests, which is what saw him get elevated to WBO champion.
Speaking to DAZN Boxing, the Ipswich man revealed what it was like to be in camp with Usyk early in his career.
“This was October 2018, so seven odd years ago. I was very novicey then; obviously, I was still learning my trade. The sparring with him was great from a learning standpoint but I was getting peppered left right and centre.
“He was great then and he’s great now. In terms of learning, there was so much to take from it, but I think overall at this early stage of my career the biggest learning for me was how to structure not a camp, but a sparring week or my days in terms of sparring.
“Things he did before sparing, things he did after. Those are the type of things I was taking from him at that stage.”
Were Wardley to beat Daniel Dubois when they clash in May, an undisputed fight with Usyk could be on the cards, though the Ukrainian has already once avoided him and instead decided to vacate his WBO belt.
