Fabio Wardley Could Vacate British Title To Focus On Top 10 Opponent

Fabio Wardley could be about to vacate his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles as he looks to challenge a top-10 opponent and climb the rankings.
Wardley (18-0-1 17 KO) retained his belts with a brutal first-round stoppage of domestic rival Frazer Clarke in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier this month in the co-main event of the show headlined by the undisputed light-heavyweight fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitry Bivol.
It was a spectacular ending to their rivalry after Wardley and Clarke shared a thrilling draw in London seven months ago, and while Clarke continues his recovery from surgery on a broken jaw, Wardley is looking ahead to world-level fights.
“We’re going to sit down with the team and what I’m sort of pre-empting – or saying before we meet – I think he should be fighting somebody in the top 10 and I’m sure that’s what he wants to do,” Wardley’s promoter Frank Warren said.
“We’ll sit down and look at the various options. Whatever happens, it’s onwards and upwards. He ain’t going backwards, he’s going forwards. And he’s going forwards with the gloves that he was wearing in that fight that were all above board.”
In a thriving heavyweight division and as his profile continues to grow, Wardley should have plenty of options. However, Warren will need to make sure that the right opponents are chosen at the right time, because for all of the 29-year-old’s power and athleticism, he is still a relative novice in boxing.
Wardley entered the professional ranks with no amateur experience and only a handful of white-collar bouts to his name, so getting put into a ring against more skilled and experienced fighters too early could pose a significant risk both to his development and aims of climbing the heavyweight ladder.
That, therefore, probably rules out the likes of Filip Hrgovic, Zhilei Zhang, Agit Kabayel, and Martin Bakole – the sort of fighters who occupy the space below the champions and immediate title challengers.
With his eyes now on fights beyond fighters from his own shores, Wardley admitted that he is likely to relinquish his British title, although he could defend it one more time.
“If I wanted to hold on to that belt permanently then it would be one more defence,” he said. “I think there’s brighter stars. There’s bigger and better opportunities out there. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a fantastic belt.
“It’s prestigious, it’s beautiful and I’d love to hold on to it but I feel like I’ve had my time with it. I’ve had the fights that also give it the credibility to go with it as well so I’ve had my piece. There’s new guys coming through. It’s their time. I’m not one to step in the way, block everyone and hold on to it forever. I’ve got somewhere I want to go now and I’m happy to leave that bit behind.”
Among those new guys coming through are Moses Itauma and Johnny Fisher, who both fight on the undercard of the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in December.