Fabio Wardley will make the first defence of his heavyweight title in April 2026, Frank Warren has confirmed.
Wardley became the UK's 11th heavyweight world champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the World Boxing Council belt last month.
The 30-year-old had claimed the WBO's interim title with a dramatic 11th-round stoppage of Joseph Parker in October.
After securing the biggest win of his career against the former world champion Wardley set his sights on an undisputed showdown with Usyk, but it appears the Ukrainian has other plans.
In a recent interview Usyk revealed that he has 'no interest' in facing Wardley at this stage in his career, and is instead targeting a clash with Deontay Wilder in 2026.
With a clash against Usyk seemingly not forthcoming, Frank Warren appeared on talkSPORT on Wednesday to reveal that Wardley will return to the ring in April against an as-yet unnamed opponent.
"Before the [Parker] fight, Usyk did say he’d fight the winner," Warren said.
"And now he’s changed his mind. He obviously feels the risk to the reward isn’t justified. I think we’d have sold out a football stadium for the fight, we could have done the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
"But we will see where we go. Fabio will be returning to the ring in April now, I am meeting up with him and his manager next week.
"We are going to get some lunch and decide what we are doing. There are plenty of options.”
Wardley is undefeated across 21 fights as a professional, with the only blemish coming in a 12-round split draw against Frazer Clarke back in March 2024.
