Pushev to defend the controversial WBA title against Wardley

WBA ordered its regular heavyweight champion Kubrat Pushev (32-3, 14 CO) to defend himself against No. 1 ranked by Fabio Wardley (18-0-1, 17 CO). The 43 -year -old Pushev holds the secondary belt with the World Boxing Association, while Oleksandr usyk is the main champion and the one with the more prestigious belt. Under Wardley, he is to bend to this level to fight for a secondary belt.

WBA had to remove its “regular” belt for a long time because it confuses fans and does nothing for anyone holding the title. Pulev caught his “regular” WBA strap last December, defeating Hangover By 12-round unanimous decision in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is a bad look that WBA still has its “regular” title.

The adult factor

Although the 6'4 ″ Pushev looked good for someone his age against a younger fighter, he is still not close to the level they were years ago when they caused the IBF, IBO and WBO in the heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko for their three belts on November 15, 2014.

Pulev's last solid victory against B heavyweight champion was in 2016 when he dominated Derek Chisora, defeating him with a 12-round split solution. All that Pulev has been beating since then is a marked fighters with small abilities and he is nowhere near the top of the tree in the division.

It is not clear why Wardley's promoter bothers to make him fight Pushev for a belt that makes no sense. The 30 -year -old Fabio should fight the best possible opposition, not a challenge for secondary belts.

Wardley is an eight -year -old professional who does not have the type of talent who would allow him to beat one of the heavy weights at a high level in the division. He lacks the spark that is needed for him to make a shot when he beats someone good.

Wardley looks more like the heavyweight at the British level, but he has been given a high ranking based on his victories over other fighters in his country. The problem that Fabio had with 38-year-old traveler Eric Molina In 2021 he showed where he was in talent. You can find out from watching Wardley's performance against Molina that the wheels will come out if he is placed with someone better than that.

Wardley is coming out of a knockout victory from the first round over 271 Fun Fraser Clark on October 12 in Riyadh. Clark is not a world -class fighter and it's not a big deal that Wardley knocked him out.

Who Wardley should fight

Instead of Wardley promoters aimed at trinket titles, they must focus on combining Hi with these heavy weights in order to try to develop it in a meaningful way:

– Philip Hrgovic
– Badir Jalalov
– Martin Bacol
– Richard Torres, Jr.
– Flying
– Frank Sanchez
– Andy Ruiz

I doubt Wardley could beat any of these fighters, but at least he will fight quality boys who will get the fans' attention. To fight for secondary titles against a 43-year-old Pulev is dumb. I do not respect this move. It just makes fans look at Wardley as a lack of confidence in dealing with good fighters in the division, and given what he looks like against Molina, I can understand this.

Kubrat Pulev has been condemned to defend his WBA heavyweight title against British Challenger Fabio Wardley 🥊 pic.twitter.com/gvijjmen5y

– Sky Sports Boxing (@Skysportsboxing) March 5, 2025