Fabio Wardley won his Portman Road fight in sensational style, knocking out Justis Huni with a huge right hand in the 10th round to claim the WBA interim Heavyweight title with the Australian looking on course for victory.

Huni, a replacement for initial opponent Jarrell Miller, who pulled out with a shoulder injury less than six weeks ahead of the contest, proved a classy opponent and was well ahead on points according to most observers with Wardley bleeding from the mouth, looking tired and with the Portman Road crowd quietened.

But, out of the blue, Wardley unleashed a 10th-round right hand which felled the 26-year-old from Brisbane and the fight was over.

Wardley, 30, was watched by Town boss Kieran McKenna and chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, who he sits alongside at home games, on a wet night at Portman Road with a big crowd of 20,000-plus still turning out to see the Chantry-based fighter stretch his unbeaten record to 20, 19 wins and a draw with Frazer Clarke.

“Before we say anything, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone in this building tonight,” Wardley told DAZN afterwards.

“I've been on this weird and wonderful journey in boxing and I wouldn't be here without you. This isn't just for me, it's for all of you.

“I don't profess to being any [Oleksandr] Usyk or Justis Huni who has all the skills, but I know how to win fights and that's one thing I knew I had to do tonight.

“Justis Huni is a great operator. We’d drilled everything over and over again. I should’ve performed better in some of those rounds.

“He's a great boxer, some great skills and he showed me everything he had tonight. I didn’t expect to bank rounds like that with Justis. I hurt him a bit in the first round and maybe I had too much confidence early on.”

Huni, suffering his first professional defeat in his 13th fight, added: “That's my curse. I even said before this fight it only takes one second to switch off, it happened tonight.

“I'm grateful to Fabio and his team and to Ipswich to be able to perform in front of you. Get behind him, he's going to do great things.

“He's just an awesome fighter. He never gave up and he got the win, he deserves it. Thank you Ipswich for the opportunity to perform here, I'm grateful.”

Wardley’s promoter Frank Warren said: “Eat your heart out Deontay Wilder, that was a Deontay Wilder moment. He's got a big heart, he's a powerful man and again, he stopped another one.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to Justis Huni, they both boxed very well. Ipswich, you did him proud and he did Ipswich proud too.

“After that fight, it will settle the heavyweight division now to know who will be the mandatories. He is there. He’s going to take a bit of time out now. Let the dust settle. He’s in the position and he’s done that through sheer grit, sheer heart.

“This is such a fabulous place to put a fight on. I’m sorry about the rain, but everyone stayed and both men put on a great fight.”

Wardley may now be in line to face the victor of next month’s unification fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.

Meanwhile, on the undercard, Ipswich’s Jack Williams won a unanimous points victory in his Super-Bantamweight fight with Argentine Fernando Joaquin Valdez.

Gideon Onyenani, who is with the 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment at Rock Barracks near Woodbridge, drew his Lightweight contest with Sam Gilley.

Colchester’s Lewis Richardson, a bronze medallist at the Paris Olympics and who sold pies at Portman Road as a student, beat Dmitri Protkunas on his professional Super-Welterweight debut.

Photo: Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

backwaywhen added 23:27 - Jun 7 That was the lucky punch as he was well beaten at that point , but fair play and he dug deep for that one moment , other guy looked very handy .
4

Nutkins_Return added 23:32 - Jun 7 Nothing lucky about that punch. It's just a quality knockout after being bossed for the majority of the fight. Wilder made a top career out of it. Huni was such a dangerous opponent with really good pedigree (just unknown). Fortunate to win on balance, but a great punch. That's heavyweight boxing.
11

Gforce added 23:41 - Jun 7 That's what you call a knock out blow !! Huge congratulations Fabio,just never gave up. Hopefully get a world title shot at some point.
2

Fat_Boy_Tim added 23:56 - Jun 7 Someone on the BBC called him Fabio ‘Rocky’ Wardley but Fabio is actually Spider Rico in that narrative. In Rocky, the big star is Rico and It’s Rocky who is given an unlikely chance to fight him. Rocky fights with such heart that he turns the crowd but ultimately loses and the Spider Rico circus rolls on. So keep it up Fabio ‘Rico’ Wardley!
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PavlovsCat added 00:58 - Jun 8 No idea about boxing, but as a Town fan I felt obliged to watch it. BOOF!
1

slade1 added 06:31 - Jun 8 Lets be honest here, Fabio was completely out boxed and out scored. He can count himself very very fortunate to win. If he wants to further his career I think he has to improve no end, but I just don't see that happening.
-2

Dissboyitfc added 07:16 - Jun 8 Yes that was a great punch, was Fabio lucky? Yes he was because Huni had the fight won and didn’t need to trade, that was naivety on Huni’s part! Very glad he won, but he was very fortunate and I wish the camera had stayed on the ring action and not gone to the crowd, ref didn’t seem to count!
1

FreddySteady added 07:28 - Jun 8 A Sarmiento moment!
7

RIPbobby added 07:40 - Jun 8 Well done Fabio. You showed total guts. You took many big hits from Huni, but help up the belts at the end. You only really want to have another 3/4 bouts in your career. Take the money and run champ Fair play to Huni he had a lot of class for a heavyweight. He took will still have some say on this heavyweight division.
3

Broadbent23 added 08:11 - Jun 8 Fab-u-l-o-u-s night for Ipswich Town.
1

Cookieboy added 08:33 - Jun 8 Pity Fabio doesn't play football, the Town need a striker with a knock out punch !!!!!
2

dieselmorris added 08:50 - Jun 8 that's two wins at portman road this year then.
7

EricGatesShinpad added 09:36 - Jun 8 A brilliant night at PR. The North Stand was Rocking! I agree the Aussie was the better boxer, by miles but Fabio pulled it out of the bag with that right hand. Super atmosphere. Another example of 3 years ago , in league 1 and look where the club is now ! Well done to Fabio , Mr Ashton and PR ( pity about the beer running out in BR upper !!)
3

Linkboy13 added 10:18 - Jun 8 Wow Fabio pulled a massive rabbit out of the bag after being second best for nearly all of the fight. Fabio needs to sort out his defence if he is going to fight the likes of Usyk or anyone in the top five heavy weights. I don't think a rematch would be a good idea although he would have learnt to keep Huni at long distance and not get involved in the rough stuff as Huni was clearly the stronger man. The fight took a lot out of him and he will need a long rest. He can't afford to many fights like this or his career will be severely shortened.

0

carlisleaway added 10:50 - Jun 8 Reckon the club made a killing on the number of pints drank last night, would be interested to hear how much the club make on an evening like this. Considering the build up of the arena, stadium organisation, stewards and not forgetting the number of boxers to be paid
0

shortmarine1969 added 11:03 - Jun 8 Keep seeing,ung the count was wrong all over social ..and above..the count starts when he hits the deck front a outside the ring counter .the ref then picks up the count..which he did..watch a few of the video,s that are about..it was a 9/10 seconds count, and Huni is just back on his feet not composed or presenting to the ref as ready..a fair KO...could he let him go again ..maybe, but not ready at 10 seconds and he could have been seriously hurt..correct call by ref.

3

Once_A_Blue added 11:19 - Jun 8 He may have been outboxed for the majority of the fight correct. What people need to understand is Wardley didn’t have an amateur career, he started boxing at a very late age. All these other guys have a significant advantage over him in experience and all the fundamentals. So to do what he is doing on the stage he is doing it is outstanding, he finds a way to win as he has done in all of his fights. Last night he showed exactly the spirit we want to see with our football team, he ran towards adversity and had the grit and determination to stay in the fight and find a way to win. He’s one of our ownnnn , Fabio Wardley, he’s one of our own

6

dangerous30 added 12:41 - Jun 8 The record books will not say it was a lucky punch it will say a win. Fabio learns from every fight he has so well done big man.
0

MVBlue added 13:21 - Jun 8 Never say die spirit. Remember Carl Froch made his name with an iron chin and a well times cracking punch.
1

Elwood added 13:41 - Jun 8 @FatBoyTim Imagine 'someone at BBC' was referring to Rocky Marciano
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BlueWax added 13:51 - Jun 8 Funny one dieselmorris, well would have marked you up if correct....only one win this year. Chelsea match was 2024 but good humour! Blue army. Well done Fabio, knockout blow against adversity. What a beast, what a man. Show the fight again to the players b4 the Narwich match Kieran.
1

Wickets added 14:26 - Jun 8 What a great punch that deserved to win a fight nothing lucky about it , yes as others said well behind and second best until then remember many fighters would have given up before that punch was thrown .
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poet added 14:56 - Jun 8 I wasn’t at the fight, but I’ve watched that punch several times on video. It was a great punch, you have to watch it very carefully to actually see it delivered. It was disguised to perfection, nothing lucky about that.
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