Salford City forward Fabio Borini says playing football is “like an addiction” as he discusses the reasons behind his move to the League Two side following his departure from Sampdoria.
READ MORE: It’s the buzz – Salford new boy Borini on playing on as a veteran
Speaking to BBC Sport’s Kal Sajad, WBO interim heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley says he would like to face undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk next, following his victory against Joseph Parker.
READ MORE: What next for heavyweight division after Wardley win?
Fabio Wardley pulls off a huge upset to wreck Joseph Parker’s dreams of becoming a two-time world heavyweight champion and put himself in position for a shot at undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.
READ MORE: GB’s Wardley stops Parker in huge heavyweight upset
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It was a who’s who of the British heavyweight scene in the arena with Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma, Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte among the onlookers.
Usyk was not here, but he was the man this bout was all for.
Wardley walked to the ring decked out in Ipswich Town colours with the football club’s crest emblazoned on his kit.
He spoke in the build-up how it was remarkable that when Parker was winning the WBO heavyweight title in 2016, he was only competing in white-collar boxing.
Yet here he was on the same stage as the veteran Kiwi in a fight to determine the next challenger for Usyk, the greatest heavyweight of this era.
With Lee in his corner, Parker was a red-hot run coming into this bout of six wins including victories over the likes of Zhilei Zhang, Deontay Wilder and Martin Bakole.
As cries of ‘Oh Fabio Wardley’ rang around the arena, Parker established control with a ramrod of a jab that soon brought blood from the bridge of the Ipswich fighter’s nose.
The finish to the first three minutes was emphatic from the favourite as Parker powered through with a rocket of a right hand.
Parker’s control vanished when a right hand from Wardley rocked him in the second.
It would be a precursor to what would follow later in the fight. It was a beautiful shot and brought those ringside to their feet as the New Zealander looked unsteady on his.
The experience of Parker, in his 40th professional fight, looked like it was going to be crucial here. Wardley was always dangerous, but Parker was landing the better shots through the middle rounds.
The Kiwi’s left uppercuts to the body and right hands over the top were a particular highlight, but Wardley’s own backhand remained a threat.
The fight appeared to be fizzling out in the eighth before it burst back into life and swung firmly back in Wardley’s favour in the 10th.
He ensured his stunning story would get another chapter against Usyk when he swarmed Parker in the 11th with a barrage of shots which forced Foster to step in.
It may have been early but Wardley will argue that Parker was taking significant punishment.
He’s made 1,378 senior appearances, had his debut in 1997 and is the oldest player at the Club World Cup.
Fluminense’s Brazilian goalkeeper Fabio Deivson Lopes Maciel has already had some career – and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
The 44-year-old starred in Monday’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan to help the Brazilian side into the Club World Cup quarter-final, against either Man City or Al-Hilal.
He produced four saves, including a crucial late block with his legs, as the 2023 Copa Libertadores winners stunned this season’s Champions League runners-up, before celebrating in style.
He even makes 40-year-old teammate Thiago Silva seem young in comparison, although both made a mockery of their years in the 33C heat.
Just four days before, he made history with a record-breaking 507th clean sheet – overtaking former Italy international Gianluigi Buffon. The record is 508 now.
Now, he will have his eyes set on an even more impressive record – the most appearances in world football.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton is the current record holder with 1,390 appearances. Shilton himself claims he has played 1,387., external
Even then, there are question marks about the actual tally Fabio is chasing.
Shilton is recorded as having played 1,249 games in his club career and a record 125 England appearances, taking him to 1,374 appearances.
So why isn’t Fabio, who has played his entire career in Brazil and has never played for his country despite winning the Under-19 World Cup in 1997, already the record holder?
According to England Football Online,, external Shilton played 13 times for England Under-23s, which would take us to the 1,387 tally Shilton believes he has.
Carlos Alcaraz leads the Centre Court crowd in a round of applause for Fabio Fognini on his last appearance at Wimbledon, after the Italian was beaten 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 2-6 6-1 by the reigning champion.
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An outdoor fight in the United Kingdom is never without its risks. Fans wore ponchos and reporters scrambled for shelter as heavy rain fell throughout the evening.
The downpour eased when Brisbane native Huni made his ring walk to a predictably hostile reception, before the mood shifted as a steely-faced and focused Wardley emerged.
Bathed in the golden glow of the floodlight, the Ipswich-born boxer soaked in the moment he had been dreaming of since turning professional.
The opening rounds saw both fighters cautiously size each other up.
Huni – well-schooled and boasting serious amateur pedigree – landed a thudding left hook followed by a sharp right in the third.
Wardley, who only took up boxing at 19 and turned pro after just four white-collar bouts, was known for his raw power and ability to dig deep.
But it was Huni landing the cleaner shots, especially with that left hook.
With only two contests beyond six rounds in his career, Wardley began to feel the pace. His timing was off and a grimace in the seventh said it all after Huni whipped in a punishing right hook.
Just when it seemed the homecoming would turn into a nightmare, Wardley achieved one of the biggest turnarounds in recent times to send the crowd into a frenzy.
After his beloved football team’s recent relegation from the Premier League, with the Tractor Boys failing to register a single home league win in 2025, Wardley brought the good times back to Ipswich.
FABIO WARDLEY has floored the baffling suggestion that he could fight his mentor and pal Dillian Whyte.
After following all of Wardley’s career, we were stunned to hear the idea even mooted from some clumsy pundits.
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But Wardley told SunSport with a laugh: “From the second it would be announced, everybody who knows the sport and who knows us, would know it would be fake and not something I would ever do, because of the amount of love, respect and admiration I have for Dills.
“People go on about my story, white-collar, coming from nowhere, sparring Usyk.
“But none of that is possible without Dillian at the beginning, giving me all of these opportunities.
“So I would never spit in his face and fight him.
“Even if all the sanctioning bodies called for the fight and somebody was silly enough to put all the money up, I would take a knee in the first round and give him the win.”
Ipswich’s 30-year-old former recruitment worker and white-collar boxer headlines Portman Road on Saturday night against tough Australian Justis Huni.
Whyte was due to feature on the Ipswich undercard but pulled out to secure a summer showdown with Lawrence Okolie.
He has not boxed in England since November 2022 and was supposed to have a rematch with Anthony Joshua in August 2023.
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FABIO WARDLEY VS JUSTIS HUNI: ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED AHEAD OF HUGE BOUT
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But that O2 sell-out was scrapped when Whyte failed a doping test.
Whyte has boxed in Gibraltar and Ireland since that big-money clash was binned, landing underwhelming wins.
For Wardley, on June 16 his partner is scheduled to give birth to his first child, a bouncing baby girl.
For anyone else, the nail-biting fortnight would be a crippling rollercoaster of emotions impossible to combine.
But the Suffolk Puncher – who went on an Oleksandr Usyk sparring trip to Ukraine in 2018 when he barely knew how to throw a jab – is loving the chaos.
The class act told SunSport: “June 2025 is going to be a wild month I talk a lot about, for the rest of my life.
“I will be an old man in a rocking chair, telling people about it and wondering how we pulled it off.
“Everything has come together at the same time, it might seem a bit hectic but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I thrive on it, I love the chaos.”
Nine months ago, the 18-0-1 ace got the wonderful news he would be a dad for the first time.
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And a few weeks later he got the offer of a lifetime, to headline at his boyhood football club, a chance that some Olympic and world champions never get.
It seems like a psychological and logistical nightmare that would be destined for the divorce courts but Team Wardley is way too tight.
“If my little girl is anything like me, then she’ll be chilled out and late, which will give me a little bit more time to decompress from the fight,” he grinned.
“The flight date has been moved around a few times but my missus has been unbelievable.
“I have just promised to her that, as soon as Saturday night is over, I am all theirs.
“This week, though, is just my week. I need to be totally focused on me and then it’s all on them.”
Wardley – who cracked 2020 Olympic bronze winner Frazer Clarke’s skull in their one-round rematch in October – somehow combines being a brutal boxer with being a lovely bloke and he insists that won’t change with another win or a baby.
“I don’t know how parenthood will affect me,” he said. “I do plan to be the fun-dad though.
“I want mum to do the telling off. I think I will always be driven to push myself in everything, though.
“That’s something just innate in me. And I am sure I will need to feed and stoke that fire regularly.”
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FABIO WARDLEY is preparing for a huge homecoming bout THIS WEEKEND!
The lifelong Ipswich Town fan will take to the ring at Portman Road as he faces Justis Huni on Saturday night.
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A win for Wardley would see him move into pole position for a shot at the WBA heavyweight title.
The unbeaten Brit was due to fight Jarrell Miller, but the American was forced to pull out of the bout due to a shoulder injury.
In stepped Huni, on roughly six weeks’ notice, who is looking to cause a huge upset on Wardley’s homecoming.
Wardley goes into the fight as the big favourite, but Australian Huni, 26, is not expected to be a pushover.
He is unbeaten, with a record of 12 wins and seven KOs, although he hasn’t fought much outside of Australia.
Dillian Whyte is chief support for the event – but the Body Snatcher does not yet have an opponent booked.
There will also be lots of eyes on Lewis Richardson, who makes his pro debut against Dmitri Protkunas.
Richardson won a middleweight bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics.
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Here are all the bouts taking place at Portman Road.
Wardley said he is facing the wrath of his partner – who is due just a week after the fight.
He said: “This is a slightly tense topic. My missus wasn’t the happiest with this fight date.
“She is due a week later but it is Portman Road. It’s not just any fight, it’s the one at Portman Road. She said, ‘Yeah I know but…’
“They say the chances are that the first one comes late but who knows.”
On fighting at Portman Road, he added: “Of course it comes with pressure. But pressure is a privilege. Being here is a privilege.
“Being able to fight here is a privilege and I think I have proven throughout my career that I do well under pressure.
“I like it. When the lights are bright, when the occasion is big, it’s when you get the best from me.
Huni told Sporting News: “I want to go over there and make them never forget my name.
“Fighting over there in his hometown, I feel like there’s no pressure on me, all the pressure’s on him.
“He has to come and perform for his people.
“At the end of the day, I don’t know anyone there and a lot of them might not even know me. They’ll know after, that’s it.”
FABIO PARATICI’S return to Tottenham is set to be confirmed as the Italian looks to line up Ange Postecoglou’s successor.
Spurs boss Postecoglou is expected to leave the club this summer regardless of whether he wins Wednesday’s Europa League final against Manchester United or not.
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Italian Paratici, 52, was Spurs’ managing director of football between 2021-23.
But he was forced to resign in April 2023 after being hit with a two-and-a-half-year worldwide ban by Fifa due to financial malpractice at previous club Juventus.
That suspension ends at the end of next month, freeing him up to come back to his role at Spurs.
Paratici will have an influence on who Tottenham go for next in the dugout provided there is no emotional U-turn on Postecoglou if he is triumphant in Europe.
That is not expected to happen given the team’s disastrous league campaign.
Spurs have racked up a record 21 defeats and are languishing in 17th place.
Paratici is understood to have close ties to Simone Inzaghi.
But the Inter Milan chief is set to stick with the Champions League finalists next season.
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Paratici is also tight with Massimiliano Allegri, but the former Juve boss does not speak English and is believed NOT to favour a move abroad.
One Italian who is in the frame is Francesco Farioli.
Last weekend Farioli saw his Ajax side miss out on the Eredivisie title on the final day despite beating FC Twente 2-0.
The 36-year-old is a former disciple of ex-Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi.
He is highly-regarded for his work on a shoestring budget at Nice and returning Ajax to the Champions League.
Fulham gaffer Marco Silva, Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth and Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner remain on Spurs’ list of candidates.