Parker, Wardley set heavyweight battle for Oct. 25 in London

Joseph Parker will battle British heavyweight Fabio Wardley on Oct. 25 at London’s O2 Arena.

As reported by ESPN final week, the WBO interim title holder (36-3, 25 KOs) was eager to tackle the undefeated Wardley amid a delay to a bout with undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.

The high-stakes heavyweight battle was confirmed on Saturday.

“Neither Joe or Fabio wanted to wait about and protect their positions and credit to them both for this,” promoter Frank Warren mentioned.

“I believe this is a genuine even-money fight with a mesh of styles that I am sure will be eye-catching and highly crowd-pleasing.

“We promised to maintain firing up this heavyweight division and we intend to maintain all of the contenders jockeying for place till the time come to battle for the last word prize.”

Parker was in line to challenge Usyk next. Usyk was ordered to begin talks with Parker by the WBO and given 30 days to negotiate a fight after his win over Daniel Dubois last month.

But, with no talks having taken place, the Ukrainian was granted an extension by the governing body, due to an injury, with the new deadline set for later this month.

However, sources have told ESPN that Parker intended to stay active.

Parker hasn’t fought since his knockout win over Martin Bakole in February.

Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs), from Ipswich, is the interim WBA champion and has a giant home following. The 30-year-old is coming off a powerful knockout win over Australian Justis Huni at Portman Road in June.

While Parker is from New Zealand, he additionally has a wholesome following within the UK having been based mostly within the northern hemisphere since he started coaching with Tyson Fury and coach Andy Lee.