Boxing
Fabio Wardley rules out the Moses Itauma fight for now
Rather than engage in conversations, Wardley pointed to the pace of Itauma’s rise and the tendency for fans to move too quickly on adolescent players.
“We as boxing fans love to get carried away by a story or a person, someone so adolescent who is doing so much,” Wardley told The Stomping Ground of fans urging him to fight Itauma now. “The early doors are kind of like, ‘let’s tardy it down.’”
It’s a intelligent move by Wardley that keeps the focus on where it needs to be. While Moses Itauma is clearly a recent addition to the heavyweight division, passing Daniel Dubois on May 9 would be a huge mistake.
Wardley is right that fans and media are getting ahead of themselves. We see a adolescent fighter making a knockout and we immediately want to see him among the elite, but there is a real risk of burning out the potential fighter before he even reaches the top. Itauma is only 21 years vintage and, as Wardley noted, “validation” needs to come naturally through innings and experience, not just hype.
If Wardley doesn’t overtake Dubois at Co-Op Live, his preference for Itauma will become secondary. A loss to Dubois will likely push Wardley back into a position where he may need a fight against a rising name like Itauma to regain his position.
Both Wardley and Itauma are trained by Ben Davison and fight under Frank Warren’s Queensberry banner. Wardley has been vocal that training “side-by-side” in the same gym makes a fight almost impossible for now. This creates an awkward vigorous in which their coach would have to choose a side or back off completely, something neither player seems willing to enforce.
Wardley focuses on the biggest names in the sport, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. From his perspective, Moses Itauma is a 21-year-old “potential” (albeit scary one).
While the boxing world favors Itauma after his fifth-round stoppage of Jermaine Franklin, Wardley believes he has already paid for himself by beating Joseph Parker and Justis Huni. He doesn’t see the benefit of putting the belt on the line against a adolescent fighter from his own gym when he could be pursuing undisputed status.
Wardley suggested a specific condition for fighting Itauma: Unification. He recently noted that both should go out, collect world titles, and then meet when the stakes are at their absolute peak.
“Maybe when I have two and he has two, maybe we will have to talk about it seriously,” Fabio said of Itauma.
Wardley can’t afford to look at Itauma because he has a huge problem ahead of him on May 9. Dubois is an elite heavyweight who just finished his war with Anthony Joshua. If Wardley loses this fight at Co-Op Live, his influence over the “WBO champion” will disappear and the WBO can simply order Itauma (their No. 1 contender) to fight for the title against whoever wins.
It’s a combination of loyalty to the gym and Wardley protecting his hard-earned spot at the top table. He wants Itauma to “grow up” to the role so that the fight will make more financial and historical sense in the future.
Nelson didn’t hesitate when asked about his comments. He said Hamed was “delusional” and said the criticism only confirmed how far their relationship had fallen apart.
“I thought this kid was delusional,” Nelson told Sport Boxing. “After Giant I thought this kid hadn’t changed, and when I saw the show I thought you’ve definitely gotten worse.”
Nelson said he recently ignored two messages from Hamed on WhatsApp and is not interested in renewing the friendship.
“I turned him off. I don’t associate with him,” Nelson said. “If you look like an idiot, you feed him.”
The former cruiserweight champion made it clear that while he still respects Hamed’s achievements in the ring, he no longer respects him as a person.
“Do I admire what he’s accomplished? A lot,” Nelson said. “But as a person, I lost complete and utter respect for him.”
Much of Nelson’s anger appears to have to do with Hamed’s criticism of overdue coach Brendan Ingle, to whom both players attribute their careers. Nelson said he couldn’t accept the way Hamed spoke about a man he believed gave everything to the gym.
The public feud has escalated into one of the ugliest old-fashioned feuds in British boxing, with two former world champions now trading personal shots instead of memories.
It’s challenging to watch because these two are icons of the golden age of English in Sheffield. When you see former stablemates exchanging shots this overdue in life, you usually get the impression that there’s a lot of unhealed history behind them.
Naz’s “snake” comment clearly hit a nerve, but Nelson’s reaction suggests his real problem is his perceived lack of respect for Brendan Ingle. For Nelson, Brendan was the man who kept him afloat when he was struggling. The sight of Naz attacking that legacy seems to be a deal-breaker.
Nelson willingly gives Naz flowers for what he did in the ring, but closes the door on him himself. It’s a shame to see them at odds, especially since they were once the face of the same team, but Nelson seems to have found a lot of peace by simply pressing “block” and moving on.
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