Briton Fabio Wardley says he still needs to "earn the right" to call himself world heavyweight champion and believes he "has a point to prove" to fans.

"It's always nicer to do it properly, do it in the ring, have the belt handed to you, shake hands with your opponent after and say 'look, good fight, thank you' and everything else," Wardley told BBC Sport.

The 30-year-old is the 11th Briton to hold a heavyweight world title, but feels he still has work to do to win over some supporters.

"They don't like it when the belts, in their eyes, just get handed about if people relinquish them," Wardley said.

"So there's a level of earning it I will still have to do - but it's an annoying one as well, because if Usyk would have relinquished [the title] three or four weeks ago it would have been on the line for the Joseph Parker fight."

"There's a long list of [fighters] that could be opponents out there," he said.

"Some great domestic fights, some great international fights as well. We could do it in the UK, we could do it abroad, who knows?"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/a...s/c5y9yl43898o