Fabio Wardley and Adeleye don’t have to wait too much longer to get their hands on each other. The pair will contest the British heavyweight title on the undercard of ‘The Battle of the Baddest’ crossover fight between Lineal and WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, and MMA superstar, Francis Ngannou.
From the moment he stepped in to replace Frazer Clarke – after the Olympian’s team decided to withdraw their man from a purse bid to fight British champion, Wardley – Adeleye declared war. If the Londoner’s aim was to annoy the champion, it worked.
A fractious build up culminated on the red carpet at the recent Fury – Ngannou launch press conference when the fighters and their teams engaged in a brief tussle.
Wardley (16-0, 15 KO’s) emerged from the scrum with a small nick by his eye and a more serious gash under his chin although, thankfully, neither cut will prevent the fight from going ahead. The man from Ipswich is pleased that the time for talking is almost over but couldn’t resist a final dig at his rival.
“He is what he is. He’s useless for the most part,” Wardley told Queensberry. “He’s not really done too much. He’s got a loud mouth and a lot to say for himself with not a lot of substance to back it up. I think that’s the difference in us.
“One of the comparative differences between us is that I don’t really say too much in terms of jibing at my opponents or really going for them but I’ll get in the ring on the night and I’ll show you. After that, maybe I’ll take it to twitter and I’ll rub it in a bit. Aside from that, I’m not really going at you too much whereas he seems to be the opposite. He’s got a lot of talk, a lot of mouth and a lot of the big I am.”
The bad blood has drawn plenty of attention to the fight but not one drop of it will matter once the bell rings on October 28th.
It is Adeleye (12-0, 11 KO’s) who is making the step up. He was given a wake up call by Kamil Sokolowski in 2021, escaping with a victory after six mediocre rounds. Since then he has stopped all six opponents and although he has been operating at a lower level than Wardley, the 26 year old looks to be developing nicely. Wardley – who is on a streak of 15 consecutive knockouts himself – hasn’t been particularly impressed by what he has seen, however. He has won English and British titles and boxed on some major shows and he can’t wait to see how Adeleye handles what promises to be a massive occasion in Riyadh.
“When it comes to fight night he doesn’t seem to show up that well. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when he’s under the real bright lights with someone who been there, seen and done it all – there’s nothing that’s going to throw me off course – and see the real fear and panic in someone’s eyes.”