At what point is Wardley no longer the "Underdog"

In my eyes, he would only be a "big" underdog against Usyk.

People bang on about Kabayel, but he's still a guy who can be hurt and dropped and whose best win is against an ancient Chinaman with the oxygen levels of someone in a house fire and a clearly injured Frank Sanchez. Don't get me wrong, he's very good, but not enough to the point Wardley would be some big underdog against him.

He would be a big underdog against Prime Fury stylistically, but now? Likely still an underdog, but not massively so in my eyes. Joshua? I would favour Wardley at this point, to be quite honest, as he's more naturally confident and therefore willing to let his hands go and likely has a better chin. Dubois? 50/50, as I think he is mentally tougher, and if it turns into a dogfight and technique goes out the window (which it very well might), I might actually slightly favour Wardley.

Itauma? Too early to tell, as he might not have a chin or an engine, but if he does? Yes, with his movement, it would likely be a nightmare for Fabio on paper.

 

For me the Parker fight. Had a feeling going in he was going to look better than expected and stop Parker later on. Which he did... Just too many x factors going his way and that seems to matter a lot in HW boxing these days. Parker can't be trusted to use his advantages in fights of real significance at this stage. Wilder was old and shot, Zhang is old and has **** stamina, Bakole took the fight off the sofa. So his run was being overrated and counting out Wardley who seems to improve which each passing fight and is young by HW standards and always seems to find a way was silly.

 

On any efficient bookie or exchange, Wardley enters as an underdog against Hughie Fury. An on form H Fury is a stylistic nightmare for Wardley

 

Don't agree on Fury. I think Fury is a heavy favorite against Wardley. Wardley keeps managing wins partly off his physical gifts, but also off his intangibles. Thing is, Fury has those same intangibles.

But Dubois? He lacks those. If a Wardley vs Dubois turns into a dogfight, I'd heavily favor Wardley to come out on top. He's a mean ass pitbull in those situations. Dubois is not, even if physically he should be.

If Ituama has a chin and an engine, he's a nightmare for everyone.

 

Parker fought so dumb against Wardley. He took every advantage he had, tossed them out, and fought Wardley in the way most suited to Wardley coming out on top. I tend to think Wardley has Evander Holyfield level intangibles.... and Parker is like "why outbox this guy, let's have a war".

 

Wardley is an underdog based on his background rather than his boxing ability. Logic says that a guy with no experience as an amateur should be losing to the people he's faced

 

When you expect him to beat the opponent hes fighting.

Hes got 2 wins at the world level and he was losing both of them before late stoppage. Thats not sustainable and its hard to pick him to beat other top HWs going off that.

 

The buzz had been maybe Chisora next, and he will be rightly favored in that.

I think its a good fight for him, but the way. A popular and respected name that he will whack out of there,

 

I wouldn't make him underdog against anyone.
He's 50/50 or better with all the top fighters.
Usyk is too old to be considered a strong favourite.

 

He needs more depth.

In many ways it's only the Parker win that catapulted him into any kind of conversation like this in the first place, before that he was "British level" and very few backed him to win any particularly interesting fights.

That's great, and it's a solid win - the problem is, because it's so far beyond what everyone expected (and beyond the rest of his resume) there are plenty who would raise doubts about just how much it really means...
... This isn't helped by Parker having fought in a manner that doesn't suit his strengths, and took the fight to where Wardley would've chosen it.

If Wardley had another win or two at contender level it would be a non-issue... I'd he'd beaten some of the better gatekeeper level guys (Chisora, Bakole, Hrgovic, etc) then it would probably be easier to accept as representative, too.

 

Indeed... And not for the first time in his career - he pulled exactly the same dumb stunt against Joyce.