Ex-Pacquiao rival makes bold Parker-Wardley prediction

Manny Pacquiao lands a blow on Tim Bradley in their rematch (GETTY IMAGES)

Former two-weight world champion Tim Bradley has given his verdict on how this weekend’s heavyweight clash between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley will play out – and he is not expecting a long night.

Parker and Wardley are set to face each other at the O2 Arena on Saturday, with the winner putting themselves in pole position to take on undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Parker is favoured to get his hand raised against the unbeaten Brit, according to the bookmakers, and Bradley, who famously fought Manny Pacquiao three times, feels the New Zealander will get the job done in style.

“It took me one round to break down Wardley and Joseph Parker,” Bradley explained on his YouTube channel.

“Wardley is about to get knocked out. This fight is going to go four or five rounds at the most, if that, because Joseph Parker is going to knock him out with a right hand [or] it might be a single punch followed up by combinations.”

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Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley, right, face off in London (Ben Whitley/PA) (PA Wire)

Wardley has picked up 18 of his 19 victories inside the distance, and his power has been on full display in his last two outings.

He demolished Frazer Clarke in a round in their rematch last October and then knocked out Australian contender Justis Huni with one punch this summer.

However, Wardley was comfortably behind on the scorecards before taking out Huni and Bradley believes that performance exposed shortcomings for Parker to exploit this weekend.

“Wardley leans back," Bradley continued. "So, he puts most of his weight on his back foot, which means he can explode coming forward, which is great.

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“But when offense is coming his way, he’s stuck in the mud.”

Bradley has reservations about Wardley’s defensive skills and Parker’s aggressive style under trainer Andy Lee has seen him hurt his opponents more in recent times.

He rocked Deontay Wilder badly on his way to a lopsided points victory in December 2023 before stopping Martin Bakole in just two rounds back in February, and Wardley will have to be wary of Parker’s power if he is to stand any chance of pulling off an upset on Saturday.

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