By: Sean Crose
It was fight night at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday as former world titleist Joseph Parker took on the rising hard-hitting Fabio Wardley in a scheduled 12 round affair. The fight was the the main event of a DAZN pay-per-view card.
Things kicked off with a fast-paced, eventful first round that saw each man attempting to assert himself. Parker put his jab to good use in the second. That didn’t keep Wardley from having his moments, however. Indeed, he truly hurt his man later in the round, showing that he had every right in the world to be in the same ring as the former WBO world titleist. Wardley looked assertive in the third. The fight was very close but it seemed that it was Wardley who was controlling the tempo rather than Parker. Both fighters looked sharp in the fourth round with each man having his moments.
The fifth was close – as the fight had been up until that point. Again, each man had his moments and the punch placement was effective for both fighters. Worley and Parker put their jabs to good use in the 6th, as the battle raged on through the midway point of the fight. Wardley certainly did solid work in the 7th, but it was Parker now who was slightly edging it with professional aggression. The pace slowed down just a bit in the 8th which was totally understandable seeing as both men had given everything they had up until that point.
Parker rattled Wardley in the 9th. To his credit, though, the man was able to hold on. The fight however was beginning to slip away from him. In truth, Wardley may have been gassed by that point. Parker completely controlled the 10th… until he didn’t. His experience was asserting itself as much as his raw talent was, but then Wardley rocked him. Indeed it looked for a moment like Parker might go down. He managed however to survive the round.
The penultimate round had Parker getting rocked again. Indeed, he was in a lot of trouble as the round wore on… so much trouble that the referee ended up stepping in and stopping the fight. Wardley had truly ground out a gutsy brutal victory against a former world champion who was still very much in the running for another title fight. Worley is now one of the top players in the big man’s division, make no mistake about it.