The Problem with Complacency
Wardley is looking at Derek Chisora as a first-choice defender. Tyson Fury called him after announcing his return. Those are the names that sell tickets and are suitable for a spring day. Itauma was supposed to fight Jermaine Franklin on January 24th, but an injury pushed it back to March 28th.
Warren works quickly. Oleksandr Usyk owns the Ring Magazine label and three other major belts. A fight with Usyk doesn’t seem possible for Itauma at this point. That leaves Wardley as the only hope for an early qualification.
But Wardley doesn’t like being part of the series.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to see him succeed, kick it up and hit that record, not my belt,” Wardley said. “Obviously I understand the excitement of everyone who wants to look at us and see our two styles, see us as two fighters and say ‘yes, it’s a good match’. But right now, nothing like that is going to happen because of the circumstances.
When Time Breaks
Wardley’s mind is patient. He believes that the fight will only happen when all these men hold multiple titles and it should be established who will manage the group. It may be many years away.
“In the end, we have a lot to see before we need to look closely at each other,” he said. “I know I only have one world championship and he is hoping to get another one, but that leaves the other two who are out there to catch him. Look, maybe after I get two and he has two, maybe we should have a serious discussion about it.”
The problem is the record that Warren is chasing doesn’t wait. July is the deadline. If Itauma misses Franklin in March and needs another fight before a title shot, the window closes. Wardley’s plan assumes that everyone can wait. Warren’s timeline is different.
Itauma had 19 kills in 13 fights. He hit hard enough to intimidate opponents bigger than Franklin. Wardley has one loss on his record if you count the draw with Frazer Clarke as half of one. He is learning what it means to own a title when someone smaller and faster comes up behind you.
The gym relationship is complicated. Training next to someone makes it harder to sell the fight later. But it is also difficult to avoid. If Itauma keeps winning and Warren gets stronger, Wardley’s options are narrow.