FABIO WARDLEY hopes he stares into the O2 crowd tonight and sees the same terrifying Oleksandr Usyk image that haunted Anthony Joshua.
In 2018, 36-year-old AJ sold out Wembley stadium to defend his three heavyweight world titles against Alexander Povetkin.
But in one of his celebration snaps, now etched in British boxing folklore, a hooded Ukrainian southpaw is seen staring down at him.
Within four years, 38-year-old Usyk had cleaned out the cruiserweight division and stepped up to topple the Watford 2012 legend in back-to-back classics.
Usyk now holds all four heavyweight world titles and is expected in Greenwich to see who – out of 30-year-old Wardley and Joseph Parker, 33 – wins the right to box him for undisputed supremacy early next year.
But Wardley holds no fear of seeing the gap-toothed leftie – who has patrolled the frontline with defence forces against Russia – and will use his scary silhouette as added motivation.
He told SunSport: “No it wouldn’t put me off or distract me.
“I’ve already fought and won with some big and famous names and faces in the crowds.
“I don’t look for people in the audience, especially when I’m on my way to the ring, I don’t look for anyone.
“When I get in the ring, I’m not looking around wondering who is sitting where. So – whether he’s there or not – I doubt I’ll even notice.
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“I want him to be there, but if he is – or if he’s not – it’s no bother to me.
“I’ll see him one minute or the next, so I’m going to find him one way or another.”
Usyk has held up the division since his July stoppage of dominated Daniel Dubois, claiming a back injury has prevented him committing to a defence against one of his four mandatory challengers.
But hall-of-fame promoter Frank Warren confirmed on Thursday that the WBO sanctioning body is first in the queue, and they have demanded Usyk face the winner of this UK vs Kiwi clash.
The undefeated Brit basher is game and it’s a sensational prospect for Wardley, who last shared a ring with Usyk back in 2018 when he was an unknown novice who accepted a sparring mission to Ukraine over Facebook Messenger.
The Suffolk Puncher said: “I know what direction I’m pointing in anyway.
“But now I think he has said he’s keen to fight the winner of this. He’s going to stay around for a few more years, he’s not looking to just run off.
“So I know what’s next, I know what’s coming up, so yeah, full focus.”
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Wardley had a baby daughter just four days after his thrilling comeback June win over Justis Huni at a packed Portman Road.
But – unlike a raft of modern and former fighters who locked themselves away from family and comfort for a training camp of solitary pain and sacrifice – he only spent the last couple of days away from his beloved girls.
He explained: “Coming into this fight, everyone was telling me it was going to be tough and give me sleep trouble, blah, blah blah.
“But it’s been fine and actually on the flip side of it, it’s actually been really good.
“Because it’s been really nice to just come home to my little one, play, chill, relax and just take a load off before she goes to bed.
“I can switch off being Fabio Wardley the fighter and just switch into being dad.
“I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I want to separate myself from them, I was only three or four days into fight week and I missed her loads already. I can’t wait to get home.
“I like my missus. I like my baby, I like everyone just next to me, close by, family, friends, the lot.”
Parker was one of those fighters who used to punish himself by leaving his family back in New Zealand for training camps in Morecambe and Ireland.
But since the arrival of his second son – taking his bumper brood to half-a-dozen – he has changed his tune and flown everyone out to Ballybrack, leaving Wardley seriously impressed.
Wardley said: “Parker used to do that and now he’s decided to change, he’s got six kids as well, so that’s crazy!
“But he’s brought everyone over, all his family is around.
“It’s a fighter-to-fighter thing, it depends what works for who. I just know I like mine around me.”
