Fabio Wardley sensationally won the WBO interim heavyweight title at the O2 Arena, defeating former world champion Joseph Parker in the 11th round.^vol A stoppage-time victory that brought the Englishman closer to winning the world title.

Parker became the WBO interim champion in 2023 following his victory over Zhilei Zhang, a title he held until tonight’s dramatic loss to Wardley.

Wardley (20-0-1, KO19) became interim WBA boss in June at the stadium of his beloved Ipswich Town FC, defeating Justis Huni in the tenth round, while Up-to-date Zealand’s Parker (36-4, KO24) stopped Martin Bakole in two rounds to defend his interim WBO crown in his last fight in February.

The drama was observable after the first bell, when Wardley was injured by Parker’s right hand at the end. The visitors also hit a nice combination in the opening round. Parker’s right hand shook Wardley again in the second, but he roared back, landing powerful punches to the champion that momentarily shook him.

Parker shook Wardley in the third round and in the fourth the pair traded to the delight of the fans, with Wardley showing signs of damage in round five as Parker set up some solid punch combinations.

Parker troubled Wardley again in the sixth period and also handled his shot well, and another massive right hand found the target in the seventh period as Parker began to build a lead on the cards.

After two more dominant rounds, Parker once again staggered Wardley with a right in the ninth, looked on his way to victory in the tenth, but Wardley responded brilliantly, and a volley of shots stopped Parker and turned the fight upside down.

Wardley kept the momentum going in the penultimate frame and launched a two-fisted attack, bouncing Parker from one side of the ring to the other, leading to the referee Howard Foster waves his hand and declares Wardley the winner.

The winner quickly called out the undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk after the fight.

Ezra Taylor vs. Steed Woodall

Ezra Taylor (13-0, KO9) shrugged off the disappointment of losing to Lewis Edmondson during fight week to claim a ninth-round victory over Steed Woodall (20-4-1, KO12) in their lithe heavyweight clash.

Taylor showed off a dominant performance and ultimately, in the penultimate session, Woodall’s corner kick was forced to throw in the towel.

Undercard remaining

The vacant IBO cruiserweight title was in jeopardy as Juergen Uldedaj (21-1, KO8) scored a points victory over Rolly Lambert Fogoum (18-4-1, KO14).

Fogoum fought difficult, but Uldedaj was a worthy winner with scores of 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110.

Royston Barney-Smith (15-0, KO7) came of age in his first ten-round fight and won the IBF and WBO super featherweight titles from current champion Danny Quartermaine (13-1-1, KO4) with a dominant scorecard victory.

Quartermaine was deducted a point for using his head in the seventh round and was well on his way in the final round as Barney-Smith won by two scores of 100-88 and the third by a score of 98-90.

Mitchell Smith (19-1, KO9) won the vacant WBO European lightweight title by defeating Arnie Dawson (8-1, KO4).

Dawson was eliminated in the first round and eventually won by scores of 98-91 (twice) and 96-93.

The only fighter to go six rounds was in the super flyweight division, where Tony Curtis (12-1, KO3) won all available rounds against Lakshmy Zaragoza Contreras (3-13-2, KO1).

In four-round fights, Jimmydean Wood (4-0, KO0) won all four frames against Artjom Spatar (5-18-1, KO1) in the super welterweight division, and in the super middleweight division, George Crotty (4-0, KO1) did the same against Bahadur Karami (4-39-4, KO1).

Super lightweight newcomer Anton Esson (5-0, KO3) won 39-38 over Jordan Ellison (15-59-5, KO1), and featherweight debutant Zayn Ahmed (1-0, KO0) had to come off form in the final round before winning 38-38 over Engel Gomez (9-52-3, KO4).