By Peter Gilbert

Eddie Hearn: “I can’t wait to let him off the leash with these British heavyweights, there’s plenty of time and I’m just excited because I think he’s going to be the dark horse of that bunch”

Fabio Wardley extended his undefeated record after stopping Dennis Lewandowski on the JD NXTGEN undercard in Nottingham on Friday night.

The heavyweight prospect handed Lewandowski his first defeat inside the distance to secure his seventh straight win and sixth by stoppage.

Wardley took the opening couple of rounds to figure out his oversized opponent and to find a way through the German’s high guard.

The 23-year-old began to string together combinations in the third, blooded Lewandowski’s nose and dropped him to his knee twice with right uppercuts to prompt the referee to call a halt on the 2:35 mark.

“It’s probably one of my favourite punches, something I feel comfortable throwing,” Wardley told Sky Sports afterwards.

“When there’s a gap there and a lot of the time, people don’t utilise that type of punch so it comes unawares to a lot of people.

“It’s about getting experience. I don’t come from a long linage of boxers or I don’t come from a boxing family, I don’t have any ABA experience, I’m here on nights like this learning on the job, so that’s what I need tonight and that’s what I got.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn said Lewandowski was unable to deal with Wardley’s power and that he expects great things from the Ipswich fighter.

“He’s been the distance with some good heavyweights, Tom Schwarz and others and he got him out there easily. He’s learning on the job and that guy was supposed to deliver rounds and he couldn’t do it.

“I can’t wait to let him off the leash with these British heavyweights, there’s plenty of time and I’m just excited because I think he’s going to be the dark horse of that bunch.

“But he does need some more fights, he does need ring time. I’m going to keep him active and he can step up now. Maybe a Tom Little or a Nick Webb where he can go in and test himself at a little bit more of a level with someone with a bit more ambition.”

Article courtesy of Peter Gilbert & Sky Sports