Fabio Wardley Defends Trainer Ben Davison Amid Criticism

Fabio Wardley has stepped into the line of fire for his trainer Ben Davison, insisting the torrent of criticism aimed at the coach in the wake of Moses Itauma’s defeat is “delusional” and vowing to restore pride in the gym with his own fists.

Itauma’s bid to become the second-youngest world heavyweight champion unravelled brutally at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday. After eight dominant rounds against Filip Hrgovic, the 21-year-old emptied the tank, visibly drained in the ninth as the Croatian veteran turned the tide. The corner intervened and threw in the towel, a merciful end but the trigger for a storm.

The young heavyweight had admitted before the fight that he had never completed 12 rounds in sparring. Once Hrgovic’s hand was raised, that revelation became ammunition. Fingers pointed not just at Itauma’s inexperience, but squarely at his team and, in particular, Davison.

Wardley knows that script all too well. The Ipswich heavyweight was cruising against Daniel Dubois earlier this year before running out of steam late, eventually stopped in the 11th after taking heavy punishment. He lost his WBO title that night and now heads into a rematch with “Dynamite” on 17 October, chasing redemption.

This time, he intends to carry his trainer with him.

“I do feel like it’s my turn,” Wardley said, after backing Itauma to come again and eventually claim a world title of his own. “It’s my turn to do my bit for the gym. It's my turn to prove because I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of criticism he's [Davison] received and just almost in shock of just like, I don't know another trainer in British boxing that gets so much stick after a loss.

“I find it bemusing, like it's delusional to me. If anything, that's added a bit of fuel to me to be like, ‘Alright, fine, no worries – I'll show you what us, the team, Ben Davison, what we can all do. I'll prove it to you. I'll take that on my shoulders. I'll wear that, no problem’.”

The contrast between the two defeats has fuelled much of the debate. Itauma’s corner pulled him out once his legs and lungs deserted him against Hrgovic. Wardley, by comparison, absorbed a sustained beating from Dubois before the referee finally waved it off in the 11th. Some have questioned whether Davison and his team managed either fight correctly.

Wardley rejects that outright.

He insists his corner judged his Dubois defeat “perfectly” and bristles at the idea that Davison is some itinerant figure collecting big names without deep roots.

“I'll repeat over and over again, the people in my corner aren't new,” Wardley said. “Like Daniel and Don [Charles, Dubois’s trainer], for example. I'm not flicking from coach to coach to coach to coach to people who don’t know me. One, I’ve had Robert Hodgins, who’s been my coach since I started. And I mean that from since I first ever put on a pair of gloves. I trust that man with my life.

“Same with Ben Davison. He's been with me for five, six, maybe coming up to seven years. I trust that man as well. So, these aren’t new people.

“These aren’t fresh people that are inexperienced or don’t know me. They’ve seen me at hard spas. They’ve seen me through hard fights and hard moments and hard occasions. They know my durability and what I can go through and how I can come out on the other side.”

The defence from inside the camp has been fierce. Outside it, the scrutiny has been just as intense.

Queensberry promoter Frank Warren also moved to shield Davison from the harshest verdicts, while making clear that Itauma’s defeat would trigger some uncomfortable conversations. Davison, after all, has become one of the most prominent British trainers of his generation, working in multiple high-profile world title fights. That profile brings opportunity. It also brings a target.

“Regarding Ben, we will have a chat,” Warren said. “There’s certain things that I’ve seen in the fight and seen on the night that obviously have got to be dealt with.

“You have to manage a fight. All he’d done, he got in the ring, he just went and put his foot down on the accelerator and pushed it in overdrive and never took it off.

“He never went out; he never sort of went back to the jab, moved around, just took it easy, calmed down. If he’d have just boxed – what was he, eight rounds up on all the cards? All he had to do was box.”

The promoter’s words cut to the heart of the matter. Itauma looked like a man trying to kick the door off its hinges, not a 21-year-old easing his way through a 12-round education. Hrgovic, rugged and battle-tested, simply waited for the storm to pass.

Now the fallout lands on Davison’s doorstep. Did the corner push too hard? Did they rein Itauma in enough? Did the game plan match the occasion? Warren wants answers, but he is not joining the pile-on.

Wardley is doing more than defending his coach in interviews. He is turning the criticism into a personal mission statement ahead of his own defining night.

The rematch with Dubois already carried high stakes: revenge, a world title, the chance to prove that the first defeat was a lesson, not a ceiling. Now it comes loaded with something extra. For Wardley, October is not just about reclaiming a belt. It is about dragging his gym, and his much-maligned trainer, back into the spotlight on his terms.

He has invited the pressure. He has taken the blame, the doubt and the noise and placed it squarely on his shoulders.

Soon enough, he will have to fight his way out of it.