Fabio Wardley stuns Joseph Parker with 11th-round stoppage victory to win right to challenge Oleksandr Usyk

Fabio Wardley engineered a stunning turnaround to stop former world champion Joseph Parker inside 11 rounds at The O2 in London.

Both men hurt each other as momentum swung from Parker to Wardley and back.

But just as it looked like the contest was getting away from Wardley, he badly hurt Parker in the 10th round. He set about him in the 11th and eventually forced a stoppage.

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Parker had put his position as the mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight world title, one of the four major belts all held by undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk, on the line by taking this fight against Wardley.

It was a gamble that backfired. Usyk must now fight Wardley next, or relinquish that WBO belt.

Parker is a former world champion, who lost his belt to Anthony Joshua in 2018, but he came into this fight in arguably the best form of his career.

After a punishing loss to Joe Joyce in 2022, Parker won his last six contests prior to Wardley, picking up victories over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang among them, as well as winning the WBO Interim strap.

He was due to challenge then IBF belt-holder Daniel Dubois in February, only for Dubois to fall ill just days before the fight was meant to take place.

Once-feared contender Martin Bakole stepped in for Dubois at the shortest possible notice and Parker demolished him inside two rounds.

That run established Parker as the leading challenger for Usyk, while Ipswich's unbeaten Wardley was stepping up to world level for the first time.

Wardley's reign as British champion had, though, been exciting. He won the Lonsdale belt when he dispatched David Adeleye in 2023. In his last fight at The O2, he took on Frazer Clarke in an epic championship clash that ended in a draw.

Wardley then avenged that with a stunning first-round knockout win in their rematch. Last time out, he headlined at Portman Road stadium in his Ipswich hometown. Though Wardley struggled with Justis Huni, he found a one-punch finish that he needed in their 10th round.

That winning touch did not desert him against Parker.

Parker and Wardley began their first round fencing for position, Wardley feinting as Parker landed stern jabs. The New Zealander then stepped to him, driving Wardley into the ropes at the end of the first round. He finished the stanza with a booming right, clattering into the Briton's head.

He had hurt Wardley early, but that only drew a fierce response from the Ipswich man.

In the second round, all of a sudden, Wardley switched the momentum of the fight with booming strikes that shook up Parker.

The former world champion was having to withstand an onslaught as he was hurt in turn. Indeed he only managed to find some respite when his gumshield tumbled out of his mouth.

But Parker would find punishing punches of his own, landing with barrelling attacks as he drove Wardley into the ropes.

He managed to assert himself more and more as the rounds progressed. Wardley though was always dangerous, always capable of detonating a tremendous bomb on the tough New Zealander.

In the ninth round, Parker burst forward with a sustained salvo of heavy punches. He rocked Wardley on the ropes, shaking him up. But Wardley managed to withstand it. Even when he looked on the brink of going down, he hit back.

He showcased that in blistering fashion in the 10th round. Parker spotted an opening. He countered with a right and landed another tremendous cross. He tore into Wardley.

But Wardley changed it all and had the crowd leaping to their feet as he buzzed Parker with uppercuts. He laid into Parker as time in the round ticked away.

Parker, reeling across the ring and into the ropes, was badly hurt. But he kept his footing beneath him.

Wardley though completed a stunning turnaround in the 11th round. He had Parker going, and he harried him with huge hook after huge hook, striking them in with either hand.

He stranded Parker on the ropes and continued to batter at him with those hooks.

Wardley looked like he was tiring - but nothing was coming back from Parker and referee Howard Foster moved in to stop Parker on his feet at 1-54 of the 11th.

'It sounds like a dream'

In the aftermath, Wardley said: "It sounds like a dream but this is real life. I'm proof of hard work, of passion, of never giving up.

"What I lack in experience, I make up for in chin, heart, and fight.

"I'm not taking anything away from Joe but I wasn't hurting that much! I put my feet in silly positions but I wasn't busted up. I've said before I'm not the cleanest fighter - but I get the job done."

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Fabio Wardley stuns Joseph Parker with 11th-round stoppage victory to win right to challenge Oleksandr Usyk