Fabio Wardley defends Moses Itauma coach after major setback against Filip Hrgovic

Fabio Wardley has leapt to the defence of coach Ben Davison after team-mate Moses Itauma failed in his bid to become the second-youngest ever world heavyweight champion on Saturday.

Itauma punched himself out after a dominant eight rounds against Filip Hrgovic at London’s O2 Arena, appearing visibly exhausted against the Croatian in the ninth before his corner through in the towel.

The 21-year-old had admitted pre-fight that he had never gone 12 rounds in sparring, which after the result ignited a torrent of backlash towards his gym as questions were raised about his preparations.

Wardley, who is also trained by Davison, lost his first fight to Daniel Dubois in similar fashion, gassing late on after dominating the early stages, and will now rematch “Dynamite” looking to regain his WBO title on 17 October.

But when speaking about the criticism his trainer has received, Wardley dismissed the noise as “delusional” and said he is ready to prove the gym’s worth by delivering greatness.

“I do feel like it’s my turn,” Wardley said after expressing his confidence that Itauma will return to achieve world-title glory.

“It’s my turn to do my bit for the gym. It’s my turn to prove because I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of criticism he’s [Davison] received and just almost in shock of just like, I don’t know another trainer in British boxing that gets so much stick after a loss.

“I find it bemusing, like it’s delusional to me. If anything, that’s added a bit of fuel to me to be like, ‘Alright, fine, no worries – I’ll show you what us, the team, Ben Davison, what we can all do. I’ll prove it to you. I’ll take that on my shoulders. I’ll wear that, no problem’.”

Unlike Itauma, Ipswich fighter Wardley, 31, did not have the towel thrown in on him against Dubois in their first fight after taking significant punishment, with the bout eventually waived off in the 11th round.

Wardley, however, insists his corner handled the fight “perfectly”, adding: “I’ll repeat over and over again, the people in my corner aren’t new.

“Like Daniel and Don [Charles, Dubois’ trainer], for example. I’m not flicking from coach to coach to coach to coach to people who don’t know me. One, I’ve had Robert Hodgins, who’s been my coach since I started. And I mean that from since I first ever put on a pair of gloves. I trust that man with my life.

“Same with Ben Davison. He’s been with me for five, six, maybe coming up to seven years. I trust that man as well. So, these aren’t new people.

“These aren’t fresh people that are inexperienced or don’t know me. They’ve seen me at hard spas. They’ve seen me through hard fights and hard moments and hard occasions. They know my durability and what I can go through and how I can come out on the other side.”

Queensberry promoter Frank Warren also defended Davison, stating that the fact he’s been involved in high-profile fights opens him up to more criticism, but confirmed there will be conversations over fight management after Itauma’s failure to see out his bout with Hrgovic.

“Regarding Ben, we will have a chat,” Warren said. “There’s certain things that I’ve seen in the fight and seen on the night that obviously have got to be dealt with.

“You have to manage a fight. All he’d done, he got in the ring, he just went and put his foot down on the accelerator and pushed it in overdrive and never took it off.

“He never went out, he never sort of went back to the jab, moved around, just took it easy, calmed down. If he’d have just boxed – what was he, eight rounds up on all the cards? All he had to do was box.”