With Tyson Fury set to return to the ring later this year, he has named Fabio Wardley as a possible opponent and George Groves has given his thoughts.
Despite Wardley’s lack of experience in comparison to Fury, Groves believes he could have enough to beat ‘The Gypsy King’.
Fury has not been seen in a boxing ring since December 2024, when he picked up the second loss of his professional career.
Prior to his two fights with two-time undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, Fury was unbeaten, but he was beaten over the distance in both contests with the Ukrainian.
After those losses, Fury claimed he had retired from boxing and had no interest in returning.
He took to social media last week to confirm he will, in fact, be making a comeback during 2026 and named several potential candidates as his next opponent.
One of those names included newly crowned WBO world champion Wardley.
Groves spoke to Bet Ideas about the possible fight.
“Well, you think Fury would always be able to beat Fabio Wardley because he’s good at negating people’s attributes, and Fabio is a great fighter but very limited in the skillset.”
The Ipswich fighter has far less experience than Fury, having only taken up boxing in his 20’s.
Wardley took a different route to most. Rather than competing in the amateur ranks, he fought in unlicensed bouts before turning professional.
Since turning over in 2017, he has enjoyed a brilliant career to date, recording some big wins this year.
He fought in June at his boyhood football club Ipswich Town’s home ground, where he dramatically stopped Justis Huni.
Wardley then took on the toughest test of his career against former WBO world champion Joseph Parker, stopping him in the 11th round.
With Usyk vacating the WBO title, Wardley was elevated to full world champion.
Groves outlined the reasons he feels the 31-year-old may just have enough to upset Fury.
“He doesn’t have that pedigree of boxing,
“But if he’s not in shape, if he’s way out of shape it could be a tall order for him, but write Wardley off at your peril.”
