'I remember sitting in the pub watching Parker on the TV – now we are fighting'

Alex Pattle hears from Joseph Wardley as he prepares to face Joseph Parker for the WBO interim heavyweight title

- By Alex Pattle

It is a lot of responsibility to hold in one's hands, being one of boxing's most lauded knockout artists. This is typed not from personal experience, of course, but in reference to Fabio Wardley, one of Britain's pre-eminent heavyweights. It is also a lot of weight to carry: not just the weight of uncaring fists, but the weight of a "double-edged blade".

Wardley, mercifully for the Ipswich boxer but mercilessly for his opponents, has fought exclusively on one side of that blade so far. Yet there have been times when he might have caught the glint of its reverse surface in his peripheral vision. For example, against Frazer Clarke in their first fight - a bloody, disconcerting draw or against Justis Huni in June, when Wardley was trailing clearly after nine rounds.

But against Huni, Wardley was able to produce an inexplicable, neutralising shot out of nowhere in the 10th round, sending fans into raptures at Ipswich Town's football stadium. And in his rematch with Clarke, Wardley left his British rival with a dent in his head and a haze in his eyes within a single round.

"It's a bit of a double-edged blade, especially thinking back to the second Clarke fight," Wardley tells The Independent, on a call with other reporters. "It's always great to get the win, but the praise I was getting is a funny one. You're so close to how brutal the sport can be.

"Yes, it was me who threw the punch, but it goes to show that at any minute - it could have been me on the end of that punch.