No Place Like Home as Wardley Delivers Stunning Finish
Fabio Wardley marked the occasion of fighting in the centre circle of Portman Road – home of his beloved Ipswich Town – by becoming the WBA Interim heavyweight champion of the world.
The 30-year-old is now undefeated in 20 professional fights following his stunning 10th round destruction of the classy Australian Justis Huni.
Huni did, as promised, dictate proceedings for most of the fight, using his more refined boxing skills and knowhow to nullify Wardley and put himself in a comfortable lead on the cards.
As Wardley promised, his moment would come. He predicted in advance that Huni would have to be perfect for every second of every round, or risk coming unstuck.
Huni’s lapse came roughly midway through the round when trading right handers. Wardley took his head out of the line of fire, while Huni didn’t and took a mighty, hammer blow that sent him spiralling to the canvas.
The Brisbane man gamely attempted to return to his feet but ran out of time and referee John Latham waved off the fight and signalled delirium across Portman Road.
Wardley, as Interim world champion, is now positioned for a shot at the full champion when the rotation system lands on the WBA. The champion is currently Oleksandr Usyk, but things could dramatically change on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
In the chief support, Ireland now has a new European champion after the Big Bang, Pierce O’Leary, outgunned Liam Dillon in what was also a defence of his WBC International super lightweight title.
Former world title challenger Mike Perez rolled back the years at cruiserweight and scored a ninth round stoppage over Steven Ward, while Albanian giant Nelson Hysa reminded everyone why he should be considered a serious player in the heavyweight division.
Hysa successfully defended his WBO European title with a resounding second round victory over Patrick Korte and afterwards took to the microphone to publicly call out young heavyweight star Moses Itauma.
British Olympian and bronze medalist Lewis Richardson launched his professional journey in style with a convincing victory over six rounds against Dmitri Protkunas at middleweight, while young featherweight star Umar Khan took himself to 12-0 by defeating Moises Garcia over eight rounds.
Surprisingly, Commonwealth super welterweight champion Sam Gilley didn’t record victory against late replacement opponent Gideon Onyenani, with the referee’s card being returned at 76-76 following an eight-rounder.