Fabio Wardley waited patiently as David Adeleye rattled off all of his supposed advantages entering their high-stakes heavyweight showdown Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Once his confident countryman finished, Wardley reminded Adeleye that he is about to take a step up in competition that has come later than many might’ve anticipated on the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou undercard. London’s Adeleye is 12-0 and knocked out 11 of his pro opponents, but they had a combined record of 81-135-8 before Adeleye defeated them.
“See, the difference is he lists all those things, but we’ve never seen ‘em,” Wardley said during a recent press conference in Riyadh. “They’ve never been tested. They’ve never been showcased at all. And you’ve never been in with anyone of any quality to even like touch on those things.
“You say, ‘I’m this. I’m that. I’ve got this. I’ve got that.’ But we’ve never seen it, because you’ve never been in with anyone of any worth to even test those things. You’ve been in with – not to disrespect them – but some, a few Eastern Europeans that come over to lose. Like cool, we’ve all done it. We’ve all gone through them stages of our career.”
Adeleye, 26, pointed out that he and Ipswich’s Wardley (16-0, 15 KOs) have beaten some of the same opponents during the developmental phases of their careers.
“Nah, that’s what I said,” Wardley replied. “We’ve all done it. We’ve all gone through them stages of our career, but others of us have stepped up much earlier than you have.”
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Adeleye has stopped Latvia’s Dmytro Bezus (then 10-0) and Serbia’s Emir Ahmatovic (then 12-1) in his past two bouts, but he admitted that Wardley will be the most formidable foe he has faced since he turned pro in December 2019. Adeleye also views Wardley as a very flawed fighter.
“He gets hit and when he gets hit, woo-wee, what happens?,” Adeleye asked. “You come out swinging again. I mean, you do come out swinging, so fair play to you. You do, but yeah, you always getting tested. You say I ain’t been tested. Thank God. You’re always getting tested.”
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Wardley stopped American Michael Coffie (13-4, 10 KOs) in the fourth round of his last bout, but referee Howard Foster was criticized for stepping between them too soon on the Anthony Joshua-Jermaine Franklin undercard April 1 at O2 Arena in London. The 28-year-old Wardley is nonetheless listed as more than a 3-1 favorite by most sportsbooks to defeat Adeleye in the 12-round co-feature before Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) and Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champ who will make his pro boxing debut, square off in the 10-round main event.
Fury-Ngannou will headline a five-fight pay-per-view show that’ll start at 2 p.m. EDT in the United States ($79.99) and 7 p.m. BST in the United Kingdom (£21.95).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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