Suffolk’s Fabio Wardley scored the biggest win of his career last night as he wiped out veteran danger man Richard Lartey in the second round of their clash at Wembley Arena.
Former Chantry High School pupil Wardley, now 10-0 (9KO), took on the toughest test of his career in Ghanian Lartey (now 14-4 11KO), but flattened him with a huge left hook/right hook salvo in the second round, leaving him senseless on the floor and requiring oxygen.
Wardley, the English heavyweight champion, took a cagey first round behind his jab, but then exploded in the second, detonating a nuclear left/right combination on his experienced foe.
It is a statement win for the Ipswich man, with Lartey having rocked British super prospect Daniel DuBois in a four round war, before extending the highly-rated Nathan Gorman the full distance in a points defeat, over his last two fights.
Wardley, who wore the blue and white of Ipswich Town into the ring, has put himself right into the mix for a British title tilt in 2021 - with unbeaten pair DuBois and Joe Joyce meeting for the strap next Saturday.
The 25-year-old, a former Ipswich Town Academy player, has come from nowhere to make his mark on the boxing scene, turning pro with no amateur experience after just four white collar fights. Yet he cemented himself as one of the top heavyweights in the country with this showing.
He said: “I’m really happy with the finish. I think that finish inparticular answered a few questions - if I have single punch power and if I can hang with the big boys, and I can.
“I saw him slightly wobble with a few jabs. I saw that if I kept poking the jab his hands would come together and leave a space around the side so I did that, stung a few in and got it in.
“I’m moving at a good pace. Ten fights in now, decent opposition. Richard Lartey was a good test on a paper, with his record and everything he was a good challenge, but I passed that pretty easily.
“I don’t want to get too carried away. It was a great performance, but that doesn’t mean I’m here, there and everywhere else. I still need to build, there’s still things I need to learn - I haven’t got into the second half of a fight, I haven’t got into a bit of a war. I took a few shots in there, but nothing too troublesome.
“There’s still a few boxes to tick off before we really step up, but I’m moving at a nice speedy pace that me and the team are happy with.”
He added: “Of course I want to fight for the British title - it’s such a prestigious and important belt to hold. I’ve got the English title, which I’m more than happy with, but it’s about progression and moving on to different things, bigger belts and bigger fights and that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn said: “I though Fabio handled business so well – the jab was beautiful, it set him up so well, and then a great right hand around the side of the head to finish it. I think he’s moving at a great pace and that British title is going to free up and I think he should be fighting for that - probably one more fight, he’ll box on the Whyte-Povetkin card on January 30, so he’s keeping nice and busy.
“And then whoever the board puts forward for the British title will be Fabio Wardley. He’s a great young heavyweight from East Anglia – there’s not many coming out of that region.
“He’s young, he’s exciting and he punches very hard.”
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