The best fight for him would be a fallout with Dillian Whyte, mentor vs subject stuff, DAZN PPV from a back street car park. Wardley would batter him too.
Wardley winning this belt for me is a much bigger achievement than when 2 times Joshua beat Charles Martin and Andy Ruiz to become World Champion. A white collar boxer now a World Champion after smoking Snorting Joe Parker is simply sensational as he rose to the top as underdog many times. Unlike others who rolled the dice and it landed in dog poo, Wardley has hit the jackpot and it is great to see a guy succeed after taking huge risks fight after fight. He now joins Daniel Dubois as the joint 2nd best British Heavyweight Boxer behind Fury over the past decade. Hope he has a voluntary defence against Dave Allen next and exceeds the Alex Arthur record of zero World Title wins.
Caveat is AJ beat Martin, no matter how poor he was he beat him and took the title. Wardley has been gifted it, i know you can say but he beat parker which is a better win than martin, which is it but it wasnt for the wbo belt. Facts are facts, AJ took the belt, wardley was given it. AJ physically beat the guy holding it theres the difference.
Let's say it had been declared vacant - given Itauma is committed, the next-ranked WBO fighter would have been Hrgovic. You'd have to fancy Wardley in that nowadays. Zhang is next, and he'd gas before Wardley did. Maybe he'll fight one of those next and legitimise it and then Itauma in the summer? You wouldn't blame Warren wanting to keep it in-house, especially if there's a clamour for Fury and Joshua to do their thing separately. Or maybe Fury will beg for a WBO voluntary as a way to get back to Usyk again. Whatever happens the division got interesting again, quests for undisputed hold a lot of fighters up.
Do they, though? In classical logic two negatives cancel out (¬¬X = X) but that only works in theory. In boxing, two wrongs just make a mess, although I’m sure Warren and Wardley are two very happy people with the outcome.
Maybe Chisora pulled out of his December fight because he knew this was coming and he’s in line to face Wardley? It’s a well known name whilst they try and raise Wardley’s profile. He’s in the WBO top 15 so would be allowed as a voluntary defence.
Chisora can cement his legacy by becoming a 3 times World Champion Fight loser. To be balanced he has lost his 2 attempts fighting far better opponents than Charles Martin and Andy Ruiz where he would pummel Martin and have a decent shot at beating Ruiz.
The real truth of the matter is it all depends on what Wardley does next, yes getting the title by email isnt the same as winning it (even if against weak opposition such as AJ vs Martin as one poster mentioned) but should Wardley defend the title now against a few decent names people will forget, equally if he loses his next fight he will be the champion who never was.
Always cringe when Alex Arthur is announced as former World Champion with a big smile on his face having never won a World Title Fight in the ring. Rocky Fielding another after winning the WBA 2nd division World Title.
Don't get me started on the "WBA regular". Remember that farce of a fight with Dubois and Bryan for said belt...