5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce - Parker v Wardley: The Debrief

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

Will Fabio Wardley’s stunning stoppage of Joseph Parker set up a showdown with Oleksandr Usyk in 2026? Richie Woodhall joins Buncey to break down a dramatic night at the O2, where Wardley, behind on most scorecards, produced a sensational 10th-round finish. We hear from Wardley himself, plus his manager Dillian Whyte, trainer Ben Davison, and promoter Frank Warren.

This is Five Live Boxing. Now there are some fights when they're made, you know they're going to be good, and when you get there, they're good, but they're not really as good as you imagine. They're not really as good as you wanted. They're not really the fight that you're expected. And then there are other fights where all your expectations get exceeded, and two men or two women stand in the middle of the ring and just hit each other until one can't continue. That's what happened at the O2.

Fabio Wardley beat Joseph Parker in one of the great heavyweight fights. I'm Steve Bunce. This is Five Live Boxing, and I was privileged to be there. Now, the big problem after a fight like that is where to start? How do you dissect something like that? How do you dissect a modern classic, a brutal savage, quite incredible fight with twists and turns and a fairy tale ending? Not just how do you dissect it and where do you start,

but who's you sit down with? Some of the people I use on this pod, and I'm not going to name names. They're brilliant. They're fantastic, but they get very excitable. So I need a man who delivers the calm. And I'm looking at him now. Richie Woodall, you look as exhausted as I feel. Because fights like that can be exhausting, can't they?

That was incredible. Let me just explain to people what happened. It finished in the 11th round, one minute and 54 seconds, with Fabio Wardley downed quite heavily, I would imagine, on all scorecards, certainly on my scorecard, certainly on Richie's scorecard, with Howard Fosser, the referee jumping in to save Joseph Parker

from taking any more punishment. Fabio Wardley was the winner in the 11th round. The slight underdog, but more than that, now Fabio Wardley gets the fight next summer, early summer, with Alexander Usik. Those are the facts and the figures, but they do not tell the story

of a truly extraordinary, It was an extraordinary fight, which he? Yeah, it was an extraordinary fight, Steve. In that I had Joseph Parker winning the fight, not comfortably, but it was a few rounds ahead. Yeah. But every single round, it could have gone either way. You know what? In most of the rounds, they both went forward in a lot of the rounds to actually get a stoppage in like two or three of the rounds.

both boxes went to try and stop the contest? I think they were both really hurt in about six or seven of the ten completed rounds before we come to the 11th round itself. I mean, we use things like a roller coaster, we use things like that casually, but how else do you explain? Let's take the start of the fight, okay? It's an incredibly crisp start. It's really, every punch is being thrown within 10. And then right on the bell almost, Fabio Wardley gets hurt, gets caught of her right course, trapped opposite us on the ring.

He looks like he's her and we're really worried. We think he's really hurt. And then he comes out in the second round, turns it on its head and has Joseph Parker almost out on his feet and has to sit out. And then Joseph spits out his gum shield in the second round with 31 seconds left. Had he not spat the gum shield out then, there's a chance. there's a chance in that second round that Fabio might have finished him. That's only rounds one and rounds two, Richard.

And I'll make no excuses for getting excited. Ben Davidson, obviously, in the Fabio Wardley camp, he wasn't pleased at all at that. No, because as he said, the rules clearly state that when you spit a gum shield out, you don't stop the action straight away. You stop the action when there's a break in the action. And there wasn't a break in the action.

That's right. In the action. So I understand Ben's complaint all turned that well from him. in the end. Ben, we're going to hear from Ben a bit later on. That was the second round when that happened. And then we go into the third round, and it's a savage again. After nine minutes, I was exhausted, Rich.

Yeah, it was incredible, but I think it just shows you what, I said right at the very start of the contest, we're going to find out tonight if Fabio Wardley can box. Not just fight, whether he can box, because he's going to have to box tonight because he was in against a faster man. And that first round showed, I'll tell you what.

He was so much faster, Joseph Paul. He was so much faster. And with Fabio Wardley, you could see him actually literally take a step back and think, well, I haven't been with anyone as fast as this. I wasn't expecting this. We knew he was fast.

No one told me he was fast. All of the stuff people have told me about Joseph Parker. Exactly. Suddenly he's fast. No one mentioned anything about speed. But Steve, this is why he's a very, very good fighter because then he finds a way. He adapts.

He comes out in the second round, and he changes it with a couple of shots towards the end of the round and it's as if Joseph Parker then realized I'm in with someone special also here. Yeah, no, exactly the same. Inside nine minutes of this fight here,

this evening are sold out O2. Let's get that right. Don't let anybody tell you in the coming weeks, days, months, years. No, no, no, there was only 10,000. Let me tell you something. There was a point during the walk, during the walkout, or the walks to the ring.

The ring walks. I'll get the words in a minute, trust me. It's okay. And I remember standing up at one point and looking over, and Scarfey was there who was doing the stuff in the ring, and Stacey was there, and Chris Lloyd was in full flow. You were just there shaking. And I remember looking around and thinking,

there's 20,000 people in here. Yeah. This might be a truly memorable night. Nine minutes later, we knew it was a truly memorable, a truly memorable night. The atmosphere was incredible, and then the fight itself. I want to say it slowed down after the third.

It didn't. The full fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth were great rounds. It's just that the first three were incredible rounds. Yeah, they were. But after those first three rounds, then I think Joseph Parker realized that he was in a really tough fight. Yes. And against someone very special. And I think Parker himself, I'm sure that the tactics would have been to keep it long and boxed,

try and box at distance, but he kept on being dragged in time and again. And I'll tell you for why Steve he did that, because occasionally in the fight, in each round, he would catch Fabio Wardley with a really good punch. And then you can see the excitement actually in his boxing, thinking, I've got him now. And he moves in for the kill. He moves in for the finish.

But Fabio Wardle, such a good chin, hangs on. He sort of gets through these situations. And I said this tonight to someone else, that he reminded me a little bit of Tyson Fury in that with Tyson Fury, in that with Tyson Fury, unless you nail him to the canvas. He's not finished. He's not finished.

He gets up and he's better when he gets up. And tonight, Steve, time and again, Fabio Wardley got hit with big, big shots. But never dropped. Even though they were flash on the cheap shots. And he seems to come back. When he's recovered, he comes back stronger. Anyway, I managed to grab up, jump up in the ring at the end with Alice Scarf, who's doing all of our running around stuff.

I've got some great interviews throughout the broadcast. I've jumped up in the ring with Alice. to get to people. And I did. I got to Fabio. And I was having a good look at his face. I was looking at his eyes. I'd like to do that before I talk to them.

Just to make sure I'm not a doctor, but I've been, I've interviewed enough fighters after fights to know when you should be there. And you know what I mean, when you shouldn't be there. And I tell you what, he was exhausted, but there was still brightness. His eyes were sparkling. And here I am talking to Fabio Wardley.

And most people still at this point can't actually take in what's happened. Here I am in the ring with Big Fab. Yeah, look, it's a bit of a fairy tale, a bit of a crazy story. But me, the team, we believed. I know it seems like a shock to everyone else, and it seems like, oh, it's this crazy story,

and I've come out of nowhere, but it's not true. It's been 10 years of hard work, commitment, dedication, relentless, just to the craft, and it's all coming together right at the end. And that was, even by your standards, a seesaw fight.

The end of the first round, you were hurt, the end of the second round, he was lucky to survive. In the 8th full of night, it looked like you'd maybe slowed down, he'd found his composure. Even in the start of the 11th,

he was having a good round until you started to catch him. Yeah, look, one thing about me is I don't go away. Don't do you? You might think I'm done. You might think I've shot it all, and I've blown a gasket, and it's all done. That's not true. If I'm still on my feet, there's still breath in my lungs,

and I'm still throwing punches. Did he actually hurt you, hurt you, or was it just like the normal wear and tear of a Fabio Wardley heavyweight fight? Yeah, look, I think you've seen it enough in my fights. I have. And it's not to, and again, I don't say this to take anything away from Joe because he doesn't, he's not a soft hit by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn't hurt. I was just caught uneven and he pressed me well, but I wasn't hurt, I wasn't buzzed, I was perfectly fine.

And so, Ushik outside, either Riyadh or London next summer. Look, wherever, whenever, pick up the phone, look, the ringer will be on, I won't be going to sleep until that phone rings. For about four days. Fabio, I'll just tell you, I've been at some fights in this arena and I've been at some fights around the world. That was one of the very best. brilliant tonight. It was a privilege to be there, son. Appreciate him, Monty. Thank you very much. So Fabio Wardley there, and you could hear the exhaustion in his voice, Rich, but you could also

him saying, you know, I'm not finished. You know, I'm not finished. I'm not finished until I'm finished, and I don't know what finished is. Well, there's always a question mark over an undefeated fighter, Steve, we've always said that. We don't know how good he is, or whatever. But even does he? No, exactly, yeah. They don't know.

Too right. They don't know how to lose, so they don't know how good they are. Well, Steve, they came apart in that contest tonight towards the end of the contest when it was a real, grueling fight for both of them. And I think sort of technique went out the window, boxing style went out the window. It just came down to what's in your DNA,

what's in your soul as a fighter, as a person. When I was up to you... Do you stop and fight or do you run, that type of thing? Well, I was a point... Sorry, there was a point when I was in the ring. and just speaking to people and we're going to hear from Frank Warren in a moment.

Before I spoke to Frank and I heard you say that that Fabio Wardley had reached down into his soul. To his soul. And I think the pair of them did tonight. Fabio is the winner. But they both went tonight

to places they've never been before. Muhammad Ali talks about them being the darkest places. He talks about seeing the black lights when you're hurt. Well, I think those two tonight visited that mystical that mystical land where you see the black lights

and you're in the darkest of dark place. I think they were both there at different times this evening. I really do. I genuinely do. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with you, Steve. It's just you can't train that. That just comes down to your instinct as a person, as a fighter.

It's in your DNA. And I explained it. You know, it's in your soul. And it was. It was one of those rare situations. I remember a fight where, AJ went there

with Clitchco that was a similar situation when he was dropped so heavy absolutely looked like he's finished when he was dropping he was unconscious I think hitting the canvas

woke him up on that particular day Tyson Fury's been there we're getting down to a stand up to attention when he'd talk about that fire he was on the floor it was a resurrection it was a biblical resurrection

I was there I saw it from six feet away I was one of those people stuck in that Matrix moment and I went to go to the left to look, looking up at Deonti Wilder in slow motion, eight foot in front of me. There you go.

And then looking at Tyson's big size 14s, facing me they were. And suddenly, eight and a half, he moved. Unbelievable. He came back from some place. I've no idea where it was. And that's only, you know... Bit dramatic, that, but you know.

It's been a privilege, Steve, that we've been there and witnessed those moments, you know, because there's not many of them in boxing, but we've witnessed a few. And that's what I said to Fabio at the end, to stop him and say, it's been a privilege tonight, being ringside.

Rich, one thing we should have probably talked about at the top, but we're not finished by far yet. Don't worry, yes, son. We will get on about a 2 o'clock in the morning tube out of it. Don't worry. The one thing that the big price tonight, wasn't the WBO interim belt. It wasn't just leaving the ring with a little bit of pride

and knowing you've beaten another really top heavy way. The big price tonight was to put yourself absolutely in line for Alexander Usick, who had agreed to it. Now, I grabbed old of Frank Warren in the ring who spent, I watched Frank for about five minutes, And all Frank was doing was shaking his head. Doesn't work great on radio. Just shaking his head.

He was shaking his head in disbelief. I managed to grab up. I was a bit of Frank, because one of the things I wanted to get from Frank is just an indication of where we stand with the great Ukrainian maverick genius fighter, Alexander Uzi. Here I am with Frank Warren in still a very chaotic

but very enjoyable ring. Frank, I'm a bit breathless from that. I'm genuinely, Frank, Juan, I'm generally, I'm generally desperate. I told you a good fight for the beginning. You know, you look at the styles, you look at the, desire he's got you look at the both of them, massive hearts.

It was just edgy your seat stuff. I thought the first four rounds, I thought it was two each. Savage rounds. Yeah, and his gumshould come out in that first round. Saved him. Yeah, I think. Yeah, it's not a sudden stuff.

And then the next few rounds after that he got into his groove and he was winning the rounds, Joe Parker. But this fella, it's his words, not mine. He only takes a second. And what do you? And what

he does, if it gets caught, it gets his composure back quite quickly. Quite quickly. He's got an unbelievable heart and he's got an unbelievable chin, that's for sure. I mean, he got caught with some good shots, which would have taken a lot of people at. But you know what now? He's got the prize. He's either going to be declared the WBO champion or... He's going to fight him for the four belts.

And you know what, Frank? There's something about him. after that, I mean, after the Hooney fight, that was great, it was Hooney. But this was Joseph Park, the most informed everywhere in the world, who's the most informed, and he's done a job on him. He's come back from certainly four rounds down. Certainly, that's what he's done, and he's done it in absolute style. You know, and it's fantastic, and Britain again, I mean, we're the home run everyweight.

You take Ousigah out, and we're the place for them all. We had about 12 at the top 15 in here tonight, if you don't mind me saying so. We did, and we got, but we're putting the fights on, we're making them happen. And also, Frank, I mean, obviously it was a great house, not like a sellout. I didn't think we'd do 20,000. I thought 10 or 12 would be decent. I thought 15 would be decent. But the truth of the matter is, you know, we work hard with promoters, we promote, we do it.

We have to work it as a business because it is a business. And, you know, working with the zone yourselves and all the other people involved. You know, we'd go out and we bang the drum. But people are not stupid. They know when it's a good fight and they see it. Now, Frank, just quickly, could we have Fabio and Usik in the UK? Yeah, well, where else are going to go? I'm asking you.

Unless it goes to Riyadh. Well, Rio.U.K. Let's have it in Wembley. Well, definitely. If he catches him, his legs are going all trembly, I promise. It'll be in Wembley. So there you heard it from Frank. It could be in Riyadh, or it could be at Wembley.

Yeah, it's got to be here, Steve. We need it for the British fans, man. I'd like it to be here. Usik's loved here. Yeah, he loves Britain. If there was 80,000 people at Wembley, 40,000 would be cheering for Fabio Wardley and 40,000, and they wouldn't be Ukrainians,

they'd be a lot of Brits would be cheering for Alexander Usik. We love Alexander Usik, and he knows it. In the conversations I have with Usik away from the mic, he loves fighting here. What this fight has done for Fabio Wardley in terms of the fight with Usik, this may have just ruffled Usik a little bit, thinking, oh right, yeah, this kid's a bit special.

Usik might fancy the challenge, because we know he's a warrior, there's no doubt about that. I know. And this may just, yeah, he might just think, yeah, I could do, this is a worthy challenge here. Because he also knows Usik just how good Parker is, okay? And he's never...

Exactly. He's never been avoiding Parker. Let's get that absolutely right. When Usik walked away after taking care of Daniel Dubois at Wembley a few months ago, he was walking away. He wasn't running away from Joseph Park. He was walking away from boxing to be of his family, to be with his country men and women who were suffering horrendously, savagely,

as we speak. He walked away for a brewer. The brewer seems to be over. He's given his word to different people, Spencer Brown, Parker's manager, also Frank Warren, that he is going to come back and he will honour what he's mandated to do.

That's fight the WBO number one, and that WBO number one as of about 40 minutes ago is Fabio Ward. So he's agreed to it. Fabio, you heard there, he definitely take it. What's really interesting, And I think you're right, Rich.

I think the nature of Fabio's victory, I think that might work in his favour. Usik might look at that and think, you know what? He was beaten seven or eight rounds. He was hurt several times. Then he came back to stop him. That will appeal to the warrior in Usik. Absolutely.

That's my taking of it. It's now a... And you've got to give him a chance. Most people will say, You've got to give him a chance because he's that type of fighter that he, well, he's done it again against just

against just his honey. He was behind there. He was definitely behind against him. And being out of boxed there. Yeah, being out of boxed. And he was behind against Parker tonight and he's come back, he's turned it around and he's won in devastating fashion. When a fight, you've got a fight like that, Steve, you've got to give him a chance against anybody. Now, there were moments in the ninth and the 10th round

when Parker, I don't want to use the word comfortable, but it looked like, and we both talked about it live on air with Chris Lloyd, who was doing lead cons for us. We both talked about the fact that it looked like Fabio was taking longer to recover. He looked a bit sluggish. He looked a bit slower. And so I spoke to Ben Davidson in the ring, of course,

was in the corner because I wanted to get his take on it. How I am with Ben Davidson? Do you know where it was? It was nearly a one-round job. I thought the referee, I thought that was terrible. with the gum shield situation. The rule is if there's a break in the action, a law in the action.

There was no law in the action there. Fab was on his way of getting him out of there in the first round. But hey-ho, people complained about it in pay-per-view, and they got their money's worth there. Were you really concerned for Fabio in about the eighth or the ninth of the tenth? He looked very tired in the corner. It looked unfabio-like in the corner, if you know what I'm saying. Yeah, it's tough fight, you know.

For both of them, there were spells where it was tough for Joe, spells where it's tough. But we're talking about world-level boxing. People are saying at Parker's the second-best heavyweight in the world before tonight. It's going to be a tough fight. What was you expect? And at the end, it was the right finish, wasn't it? It wasn't a second late.

It wasn't a second early. That was the time it had to end there. Oh, I agree. Potentially, there was a couple of times where the ref could have stopped in even earlier. But I understand giving everybody the best of chances. But yeah, I thought it was the right decision. And please tell me you're not going to start analyzing Usik tonight for the preparation of next summer. Tell me you're going to have a couple of days off, B.

Because I know you will. I think we need it. I think we all need it. But it will be Usick, hope. hopefully next summer, and that will be just part of the fairytale because I don't think the U6 fights at the end of the Fabio Wardley story. No, hopefully not. So Ben being honest and acknowledging that he was tired,

but Fabio being tired doesn't mean that Fabio's close to being beat. It just means wait for it. Fabio's tired. He still can catch you with his shot and let his hands go. Some of the last punches in that 11th round, the fight finished after 154 of the 11th. He must have thrown 20 or 30 punches. He might have only landed with 5 or 6, but he threw them.

I mean, it's not just one punch that turns the contest around. This was a barrage of punches. A sustained attack when he looked out on his feet. The round before that, Steve, the previous round before that, at the start of it, he looked out on his feet. He was, you know, not gone, but he looked, you know, really, really tired. And it looked like he might not recover. He did recover, and then he turns it around.

So the thing is, when it looks like he can't recover, when it looks like he's got nothing left, that's clearly when he's at his most dangerous. You know, when it's a lost cause. Because at that point, I think I had it, I think I had it 8-2 going into the 11th round. I had it exactly the same thing. And that's 8-2.

So he can't win on points under any circumstances. And he looks tired, looks like he's getting hit with shots. And Parker looked, I hate to say this. He looked slightly comfortable until clipped, until hurt, and then the whole thing goes belly up. Now, not a lot of people know this, as Michael Kane used to say, before he became all posh. And not a lot of people know this,

but Fabio Wardley was just as good as discovered by Dillian White, who was here tonight, Dillian White, because he was meant to be announcing a fight with Derek Dielboy Chisora, their trilogy fight on December the 13th, but there's still some paperwork to be done. So the fight was announced,

but not really announced. I couldn't get to the bottom of it. I sent Scarfie off to find out. She couldn't get to the bottom of it. So we don't really know if Del Boy is going to be fighting, He's going to be fighting Dillian White on December the 13th. And when I was talking to Dillian,

it was about Fabio, not about his fight on December the 13th. So I didn't get to find out either. So if you know which, that's great. So they might fight on December the 13th. Anyway, Dillian was in the ring, and I also spoke to Dillion, who is Fabio Wardley's manager. You know what?

That is something special. We start something special to know that. Fabio and Joseph, they're both incredible man, but Fabio shows what kind of person is, because I had him losing by two, three rounds. You know what I mean? But I just, he gave him a lot of going to fight because he can dominate the fight to this job,

but for some reason he likes to... He likes to fight. He likes to roll the dice. He's a gambler. Just like you. Yeah, exactly, you know, which is not so good, you know, because he's a young man. We want him to have a good career and a good life.

You know what I mean? He has to, you know, but he gets the job done, man. He's an amazing guy, that's how I can say. When that's time of years ago, I knew there's something different about him and he proven it to himself onto the world. And tell me, were you worried as we were going into the ninth and the tenth round because it looked like Fab had slowed down?

I was worrying because I know, I fought Joseph myself. I know what it's like and he's got bigger and stronger and it seems even faster now than he wasn't enough for him. So I am worried and he's a tough guy. It's very hard to stop. You know, he's not got to get knocked out. So yeah, I was worried. And I thought Fab start quick and then slows down and he comes back on it later.

But with Joseph, the guy you're going to be consistent with. So a very happy Dillion White. So Richie, an unbelievable night. Obviously we hope Joseph Parker was all right. He looked okay. He was smiling at the end and he's gone off and he'll need some time to recover. Looks like he got a damaged nose and a cut somewhere in and around his eye. But his pride will be hurt.

And he has slipped down the quotes, unquote, rankings or ratings. But he's managed to fashion from this boxing business, an incredible life. He was the world champion nine years ago. He's been in about 10 massive. fights. He's made plenty of money and he's an absolute top man. Andy Lee will be really annoyed because he'll know how close he came to having a victory. So that's Joseph Parker and Andy Lee. They've gone off over there. We've heard from Ben Davidson. We've heard from Frank Warren saying quite clearly it will be Ussick next. If I had to put, ask you now, Rich, not a prediction,

but give me some sort of understanding. What sort of fight might that be? Alexander The Marvel, the magician, the heavyweight maestro against this kid here who just keeps on rewriting his story. It's gone from fairy tale to ridiculous land. I think it would be a fight where Alexander Usik would be a mile in front, Steve. I think he would outbox Fabio for large parts of the contest. But as the fight goes into the later stages, then I think Fabio is even, with more of a shout,

especially if Alexander Usik tires. And if Alexander Usik, if he does take the contest a little bit too lightly and he doesn't prepare for it properly, there's been no signs of that in the past, but you've got to remember he's 39 now. Yeah. And, you know, you can't go on forever.

Is he with a chance? Yes, he is, but it's only a slight chance. On home soil, it would be a bigger chance because obviously the crowd behind him, he seems to rise to the crowd. to the crowd. But yeah, it's a difficult fight because he's a maestro.

We know he's a... And not only is he a maestro and a genius actually physically, mentally as well. He can hold it for so long and concentrate for so long. I remember Tony Bellew has told us many times

that, you know, the concentration levels of Alexander Ouseik are like anything that he's ever experienced. Making you... Well, Tyson, you half admitted that after the first fight.

He doesn't admit anything after the second fight. AJ said the same thing after the first fight is that he kind of bullies you about bullying you. Exactly. He makes you do things.

However, Steve, you can't write this Wardley off, mate. Exactly. There's one fighter that might be impervious to that type of thing. It might actually be Fabio Wardley. You know, because he came out of a line when we were, Chris doing the comms. Chris Lloyd, Lloydy doing the comms. He said that Fabio has been in camp with Ussick three times. And he might know him.

He might know Ussick better than the British guys that have thought, including, obviously, AJ and Fury, who have been 24 rounds each with him in total. So that's really interesting, Paul. And if the fight could come off, Steve, if I was Fabio Wardley's camp, I would employ Moses Atama for the whole of the camp for sparring.

That's an interesting thing, because obviously they're in the same gym. Moses admitted to me earlier on today that he's not in the same gym at the same time. He's in the gym, but he's not in the gym at the same time. Moses Tamas was wandering around here. He might be fighting on December the 13th as well, although there was no opponent for him.

Richie, it's been an absolute pleasure and a delight. It's been a pleasure being here. It's been a privilege being here. It's been a privilege tonight. It really has. We've been at some one day we'll sit down and we'll get padded a producer. We'll just sit down, you and I, and we'll try and compile a 10 best experiences you and I have had at ringside

because that's going to be in the list of that. That's going to be in the top three or four, I think. Yeah, it really is. It was a great team we gathered 20,000. people to watch one of the great heavyweight fights, a fight full of unbelievable savagery, enough artistry and a fairy tale ending in many ways that left Joseph Parker on his feet. But I thought slightly out of his head, beaten, broken, bashed, bloodied, and left Fabio Wardley on the floor, screaming in ecstasy.

And so he should have been. It was that type of night. Fabio Wardley won the 11th round, 154. he now gets to fight, Alexander Usick, and there will be public outcry. If he doesn't get the fire, they'll talk about it in the House of Commons. It'll be the talk of Suffolk.

Every single village in Suffolk. We'll be talking about it. Make Fabio Wardley against Alexander Usick. Make it next summer. Give us a massive fight. Oh, it's relentless. You know, there's more boxing next weekend, and then the weekend after,

then we've got this crazy point at Christmas. We're in about four or five countries over a seven-day period. It's quite ridiculous. Richie, it's been a delight. Everybody else that was in the team, it's been absolute pleasure. And as I said to Fabio Wardley,

when I shook his hand in the ring, it was a privilege to be ringside. I'm Steve Bunce, and this has been a very, very special Five Live Boxing. Five Live Sports. WSL. BBC Women's Football Weekly.

The latest news, insights and analysis from across the women's game. Lucy Bruns, welcome back. What one-liners do you think would make the best rugby player. Me? Listen. With the BBC Sounds app.