Is Fabio Wardley Competitive In the 70s HW Era?

I think it's a bit early to say Wardley has Foreman level power.

He dropped Huni with 1 punch yes but Huni got up.

He stopped Parker yes but he was on his feet despite landing numerous punches he couldn't KO Parker like Joyce did.

 

20 wins, 19 KOs.

 

At the very least he has a different kind of power. Wardleys power comes with speed. Foremans is heavy

 

Context.

He's only stopped 1 top 10 Heavyweight in Parker and he was still on his feet.

 

Wardley was doing something weird to Parker. He'd crack Parker good in the jaw and Parker would just shut off. Stand there, stop reacting. Was weird. I was like "did Wardley hit him so hard his brain shut off?!?"

 

He's stopped the only top 10 heavyweight he's fought. A former world champ who was the consensus #2 in the division.

I'm not trying to be ridiculous. I don't know what Wardley's ceiling is. I don't think he's an ATG, at least not remotely yet. But I do think he is a top tier puncher.

 

Realistically Parker got overhyped he's the same fighter that lost to Whyte, Joshua, Joyce, and should've lost the 1st fight vs Chisora.

Fair play to Parker for taking on dangerous opposition and he should be credited for that.

But beating a 40 year old Zhang with a 4 round gas tank. And beating a 24 hour notice 300+ pound Bakole flattered Parker immensely.

Parker is not a bad fighter but he's not an upper echelon Heavyweight.

And like I said Wardley stopped Parker on his feet in what some deem to be a controversial stoppage.

It's not like Wardley utterly destroyed Parker like Joyce did for example who did a much better job on Parker.

Wardley is a good puncher but I'm not quite ready to put him on the same level as Foreman.

 

Look who he's fought though:

BoxRec: Fabio Wardley

The same people falling head over heels for Wardley now, will be arguing he was never any good in a year's time, when he's lost a fight or two. It's as predictable as taxes and death.

 

The only fighter I saw that a few times when hit really hard was hrgovic (first against Zhang). But that was rather hrgovic's thing than zhang's punches.

With parker what I saw was that parker was utterly exhausted. Leading up to the 'ko' (which I thought wasn't warranted) Parker looked okay and fresh when judging by his posture and face, but after a bit I noticed that he only threw one punche every 30 seconds or so.

So I would assume that him not throwing back was just well conceiled exhaustion?

 

No disrespect intended to the person that started this thread because it's an interesting question but it's also the same question that popped up when Joe Joyce was winning, people were matching him up against all time greats and look how Joyce ended up!! If you have good power, boxing fundamentals and intelligence you'll beat wardley by jabbing his face off and staying out of trouble, Parker for all his heart sometimes doesn't fight clever