WBA interim heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) rallied to score a beautiful 11th-round knockout over WBO interim champion Joseph Parker (36-4, 24 KOs) in the main event on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
After hurting Parker late in the 10th, Wardley went for the kill in the 11th, tagging the 33-year-old with hard punches. A booming right hand had Parker out on his feet. Fabio then unloaded on the defenseless Parker, causing the referee Howard Foster to step in and halt the contest. The bout was stopped a bit early, but it was academic that Wardley was going to finish Parker if not for Foster jumping in. He was too hurt to survive, and Wardley looked fresh and powerful.
Trailing after nine rounds, Wardley, 30, stunned Parker late in the 10th round after absorbing a barrage of punches on the ropes. Out on his feet, Parker was saved by the bell to end the round.
What’s actually happening at The O2 tonight?
It’s fight night! Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley are about to test who’s real and who’s rented. Two interim belts, one shot at Oleksandr Usyk next year. The place is rammed, beer flying, nerves tight.
Undercard results
Juergen Uldedaj (21-1, 8 KOs) dominated little-known Rolly Lambert Fogoum (18-5-1, 14 KOs), winning a wide 12-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBO cruiserweight title in the chief support bout. The scores were 118-110, 120-108, and 119-109.
Uldedaj had his way with the 36-year-old Lambert Fogoum, using his combination punching to get the better of the older fighter. Neither guy showed much punch. The combos from the Albanian Uldedaj, 28, were the difference. It’s unclear where promoter Frank Warren found these guys and chose to use them in the co-feature bout.
Ezra Taylor (13-0, 9 KOs) scored a ninth-round TKO victory over Steed Woodall (20-4-1, 12 KOs) in a light heavyweight fight scheduled for 10 rounds. In the ninth, Taylor, 31, forced Woodall up against the ropes and unloaded with a series of combinations, causing his corner to throw in the towel.
Referee Mark Bates then stepped in and waved it off. Taylor dominated the entire fight, hitting the pedestrian-looking Woodall at will with shots. It wasn’t the competitive fight some had hoped for.
Royston Barney-Smith (15-0, 7 KOs) pitched a shutout over the hapless IBF European and WBO European super featherweight champion Danny Quartermaine (13-1-1, 4 KOs), winning a wide 10-round unanimous decision in another beautiful mismatch on this card.
The scores were 100-88, 98-90, and 100-88. Quatermain was penalized a point for leading with his head in round seven. In the tenth, Barney-Smith dropped Quartermaine with a right hook. Not much to this fight, as a complete mismatch from the word go. It was another fight that belonged on the prelim card rather than the main card.
Mitchell Smith (19-1, 9 KOs) defeated the lanky 5’11” Arnie Dawson (8-1, 4 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO European lightweight title. The scores were 96-93, 96-93, and 97-92. Smith dropped Dawson in the first with huge shots and bloodied his nose in the fifth.
From the sixth round on, he beat the living daylights out of him. This was not a competitive fight unless one enjoys mismatches. It’s unclear why Queesnberry placed this contest on the main card rather than buried deep in the prelims. That’s what I want to know.
