How Fabio Wardley is preparing to beat Justis Huni and become a dad at the same time
To say Fabio Wardley has a busy few days coming up is an understatement.
The 30-year-old faces a cross-roads fight against Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) in his hometown of Ipswich at Portman Road Stadium on Saturday in a huge bout on the road to potentially becoming a heavyweight world champion.
There’s also the small matter of becoming a father a few days later.
Asked if he has been at all distracted in camp with the impending birth, Wardley (18-0-1, 17 KOs) responds — somewhat sarcastically — with a wry smile.
“Nope. Everything has been perfect!
“Nah, it’s been a bit hectic but to be fair it’s a credit to her [Wardley’s girlfriend] really. She’s been chilled all the way through. She’s quite good at just letting me let me crack on with what I’ve needed to do.
“You just have to stick the blinders on and focus on one thing at a time. Until the little one actually turns up, the focus is the job at hand [on] Saturday. Once that’s done then we can forget about boxing for a minute or two.”
No doubt, for this week, all of Wardley’s focus will need to be on preparing for the occasion, with over 20,000 fans expected to cheer on their local heavyweight champion hopeful.
“It is definitely a big thing for the town,” Wardley told media ahead of Saturday’s fight.
“The big thing round here is pretty much Ed Sheeran and the football club. If those things are going off then they’re the main noises. Edging myself towards those two things, it’s quite funny to be fair.
“Wherever I go… fill up my car or go to the shops, someone’s like ‘I’ve got a ticket’ or ‘good luck!’. I went to get an eye test and everyone was stopping me. I was just like ‘I need to get out of here.’
“It is good, it’s really good. Everyone’s buzzing and counting down to fight night.”
Babies and fanfare aside, Wardley needs to get the job done on Saturday against a tricky opponent. Huni replaces original opponent Jarrell Miller, and represents a completely different challenge, with good footwork and technical ability.
Wardley arrives into the fight off the back of two bruising encounters with Frazer Clarke. The first, something of an epic, ended in a draw. Second time around Wardley left no room for doubt with a savage first-round destruction of his opponent.
Now, the focus is on Huni.
“His amateur record and experience speak for themselves,” Wardley says. “He probably is more skilled and well put together than Miller. We’re both coming into this with something to prove and somewhere to go.”