After beating Joseph Parker, 33, last month, The Barista, 30, became the mandatory challenger to The Cat’s, 38, heavyweight crown, but Usyk chose to relinquish his belt instead of defending it against Wardley.
Now the WBO heavyweight champion, Wardley has admitted he can’t understand why Usyk would vacate his title.
Speaking with Sky Sports about whether he could see why Usyk had given up his WBO belt, he said: “I don't necessarily know if I can.
“I don't know what he may be planning for himself, whether that be retirement, whether it be a different fight, whether it be another alternative.
“Obviously, we're seeing loads of variations with fighters and what they're doing with their careers at the moment, whether they're pivoting into different sports, or taking breaks and then coming back.
“It was a bit of a strange one, because initially he took a bit of a break. He was allowed an absence, an extension on the belt, and then to give it up just seems a bit of a strange move.
“I'm not too sure what he was thinking.”
Despite losing out on the Usyk fight, The Barista insisted he was “open to all opportunities”, and said he would be open to sharing the ring with Anthony Joshua, 36.
Wardley said: “One thing I've always had through my career is the mantra of never shying away or backing down, always taking on the biggest next fight, and if that would be him [Joshua] then it would be a pleasure to do so.”
In his first fight since his loss to Daniel Dubois, 28, in September 2024, AJ will be returning to the ring to face Jake Paul, also 28, at the Kaseya Center in Florida, Miami on December 19, 2025.
The Problem Child had been due to fight Gervonta Davis, 31, this month, but the bout was cancelled after Tank’s ex-girlfriend filed a lawsuit against him, accusing Davis of battery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Wardley defended Joshua’s decision to fight Paul, and said he could understand it “very much from the monetary standpoint”.
He said: “When a pot of money is put in front of you like that, I think 99 per cent of people are saying ‘yes’.
“And for AJ, someone like Jake Paul, to him, he's looking at it like, ‘I could probably train for a week or two and tick this off without breaking a sweat.’ It's almost too good to be true, so why would you say no?”
