Is Fabio Wardley Britain’s answer to Deontay Wilder?

fabio wardley Enjoying a rapid rise through the heavyweight ranks, his devastating knockout power has fueled him, leaving him now just one more win away from capturing the undisputed heavyweight title.

He must first defeat one of the highest rated heavyweight contenders and the WBO interim champion, joseph parkerTo give yourself a chance to achieve your dreams.

Parker is the favorite in this fight due to his vast experience at the top level, being a former world champion and his traditional school style.

But one thing Wardley has proven in his limited experience in the upper echelons of the heavyweight division is that he can never be written out – he’ll always have at least a puncher’s chance, and in round 12, that’s all he’ll need to catch Parker with one of his lights-out shots.

Because of this, Wardley has drawn comparisons between himself and deontay wilderAlthough it may not seem like much of a compliment today, Wilder is the long-reigning former WBC heavyweight champion and has defeated almost every opponent to date.

But how far do the similarities go, what has Wardley done to justify them, and will he prove them right this weekend?

late arrival to boxing

By the standards of any era, both men were incredibly late to the game. Wardley did not wear a pair of gloves for the first time until he was 21 and Wilder was 20, an age by which many of the sport’s greatest players had won their first world title.

Wardley was a footballer in his youth and played for his hometown ipswich town’s academy, when boxing was not even on his radar.

It wasn’t until injuries kept him away from football that Wardley stepped into a gym, but even then, he had no intention of becoming a fighter.

While his opponent this weekend was winning his first world title against Andy Ruiz in 2016, Wardley was working as a recruiter in London and boxing on the side before deciding to try a white-collar gig.

This gave Wardley the boxing bug and after just four white-collar bouts he turned professional and is now undefeated in 20 bouts.

Wilder initially got into boxing to pay for the medical treatment of his daughter, who was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that causes the spinal cord to not develop properly in the womb.

His only chance to pay for it was to get in the ring, and he has admitted that he expected to be a journeyman rather than a future heavyweight champion.

Two years after taking up the sport, Wilder captured an amateur title and an Olympic bronze medal and entered the professional ranks, becoming one of the most fearsome punchers ever seen in the heavyweight division.

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stylistic similarities

Late initiation, although not decisive in a fighter’s success, does impact how technically superior a boxer is when he or she becomes professional.

Both Wilder and Wardley, due to their late arrival and eagerness to enter the professional game, had short periods of fundamental education, meaning they both have unorthodox styles.

But instead of hindering their progress, it’s actually become a strange way for both of them to become destructive and unpredictable rivals.

Their lack of traditional schooling, combined with their knockout power, means that they can launch attacks from angles or positions that the opponent would not expect, as it does not fit with the normal patterns of defense and attack.

david hiThe former cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion offered his analysis on Wardley’s style.

Haye explained, “It’s difficult to read someone who doesn’t know boxing from a traditional playbook.” Sun“When he finally hits a shot, it’s coming from an angle you weren’t expecting, and the next thing you know, you’re looking at him.”

Although they both have the uncanny ability to generate power out of nowhere and steal foul advantages by using their power and athleticism to overcome fighters who are perhaps better boxers, their unorthodox styles have shortcomings.

As for Wardley and Wilder, they lack offensive skills, but they also lack defensive understanding.

Both players are struggling to box on the back foot. We saw this in his second and third fights with Wilder tyson furyAnd for Wardley, the same happened against Justice Hooney.

If their opponent is so intelligent at boxing that he has to step back a bit, his defensive skills seem to be lacking, and he becomes a very hitable target.

Wilder’s shortcomings saw him knocked out twice by Fury, while Wardley was far behind on the scorecards against Hauni.

one-punch knockout power

The most glaringly obvious similarity between Wardley and Wilder is their out-of-this-world knockout power, which, as a fighter, is a valuable asset because it is the last asset to go away as we age.

He has two of the best knockout ratios in the entire game. Wilder has defeated 43 of his 44 (98%) opponents, and Wardley has defeated 18 of 19 (95%) opponents.

It was because of this struggle to change power that both men rose so quickly as young contenders without proving their technical ability. Four of Wardley’s first six fights were first-round knockouts, and of Wilder’s first 10 fights, eight of them lasted less than three minutes.

Despite his perceived lack of high-level technical ability, his prodigious power has allowed Wilder to become world champion and Wardley to be one fight away from a shot at undisputed status.

An example of this level of power, served as one of the best equalizers in the game, is when we have seen both men with their backs against the wall against better and more polished fighters.

In 2019, Deontay Wilder rematched with top contender luis ortiz After beating him in their first meeting. But this time, Wilder could not continue his work and was overwhelmed by Ortiz’s defensive skills and shot variety.

By the seventh round, Wilder was comfortably behind on all three judges’ scorecards and did not look like he would be able to score. Then out of nowhere, Ortiz took Wilder off the ropes, and he exploded with a fantastic right hand that obliterated the Cuban and saved Wilder from defeat.

Wardley later dropped it as well in his last fight against Huni, where he looked out of his depth for 10 rounds and won one round on two scorecards.

Huni was headed for a breakout win and was perhaps overconfident when he was hit by a right hand from Wardley that ended the fight on the spot as Huni could not count out the referee.

How are they different?

Although there are some very interesting similarities between Wardley and Wilder, it is also important to emphasize that they are both very different fighters who have taken and will take very different paths in their careers.

Only four uncontested battles were fought before the British counterattacked, which is unprecedented for a modern era fighter, especially with Wardley having so much success. While Wilder took a more traditional path – fighting as an amateur, winning a national title and claiming an Olympic bronze medal like many of the legendary heavyweight champions before him.

It can also be said about Wilder that until recently he did not face a high caliber opponent, he did not face a recognizable opponent until 30 fights into his career, while he did not become world champion until his 35th fight.

Wardley has been more willing to lay it on the line in order to make rapid progress. An easy way to compare this would be a common rival.

Wilder did not face Eric Molina until his 34th fight, and when he was already world champion, while Wardley had only faced the American in his 11th fight.

Is Wardley the new Wilder?

There is no doubt that Wardley is on his way to becoming a world class heavy hitter and in that respect the comparisons to Wilder are warranted.

But even though Wilder is on the slope towards his 40s in his career, it would be unfair to make comparisons before Wardle has had the chance to prove it on the world stage, as Wilder did during his five-year reign as heavyweight champion, in which he defeated all but one contender.

Wardley has the opportunity to lend credence to these comparisons this weekend, however, if he can knock out a former world champion like Parker – especially if he can do it spectacularly, like Wilder did fight after fight to get to the top.

Watch Parker vs. Wardley live only on DAZN

Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight to become the WBO mandatory challengers for Oleksandr Usyk this Saturday, October 25. Watch the fights and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.

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