Joseph Parker will fight British heavyweight Fabio Wardley on Oct. 25 at London’s O2 Arena.
As reported by ESPN last week, the WBO interim title holder (36-3, 25 KOs) was keen to take on the undefeated Wardley amid a delay to a bout with undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The high-stakes heavyweight fight was confirmed on Saturday.
“Neither Joe or Fabio wanted to wait about and protect their positions and credit to them both for this,” promoter Frank Warren said.
“I believe this is a genuine even-money fight with a mesh of styles that I am sure will be eye-catching and highly crowd-pleasing.
“We promised to keep firing up this heavyweight division and we intend to keep all the contenders jockeying for position until the time come to fight for the ultimate prize.”
Parker was in line to challenge Usyk next. Usyk was ordered to begin talks with Parker by the WBO and given 30 days to negotiate a fight after his win over Daniel Dubois last month.
But, with no talks having taken place, the Ukrainian was granted an extension by the governing body, due to an injury, with the new deadline set for later this month.
However, sources have told ESPN that Parker intended to stay active.
Parker hasn’t fought since his knockout win over Martin Bakole in February.
Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs), from Ipswich, is the interim WBA champion and has a big domestic following. The 30-year-old is coming off an impressive knockout win over Australian Justis Huni at Portman Road in June.
While Parker is from New Zealand, he also has a healthy following in the UK having been based in the northern hemisphere since he began training with Tyson Fury and trainer Andy Lee.
