What’s Next For The New WBO Heavyweight Champion Fabio Wardley?

The boxing business can move swiftly at times, and Monday was one of those moments as the WBO announced that unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) vacated their title, which elevated Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) from interim to full champion.

In a social media post from the verified WBO account, the statement said, “The World Boxing Organization (WBO) announced today that it has received formal communication from Team Oleksandr Usyk regarding the future of the WBO Heavyweight Championship. After thoughtful consideration, Usyk has elected to relinquish the title.”

Two hours later, the WBO put out another post on social media saying the following, “Consistent with established procedure, the Committee will evaluate and act upon the status of the current WBO interim Heavyweight Champion, Fabio Wardley; as such, the Committee will proceed without delay to elevate Fabio Wardley to Full Champion status, subject to ratification and issuance of the corresponding Championship Resolution.

“The Committee will also deliberate on the next relevant steps regarding Wardley’s first mandatory defense, including timelines, challenger designation, and any additional measures required pursuant to the WBO regulations.”

FightsATW reached out to the WBO President, Gustavo Olivieri, Esq., regarding the timeframe fans should expect for a decision on “Wardley’s first mandatory defense, including timelines, challenger designation.” Olivieri told FightsATW, “By early December, we shall have a formal ruling.”

Until the Committee meets, we can only speculate which direction Wardley can go next. Sitting at number one according to the September WBO rankings is young heavyweight contender Moses Itauma. This looks to be the obvious choice as Wardley and Ituama are with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, and it’s the best fight they can make within their promotional umbrella. If Wardley is granted a voluntary defense, it could be against other Queensberry fighters like Zhilei Zhang, Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, Derek Chisora, or Lawrence Okolie, all of whom are in the top 10. In other words, Wardley has options, and since they are all within Queensberry, getting the fight signed is that much easier.

What will Wardley do next? Right now, I’m sure he will be enjoying this moment, and after the WBO makes their ruling, he can sit down with his team and see what makes the most sense for 2026.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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