Whenever a British fighter steps into the ring with one of the sport’s greats, a standard pre-fight talking point is where a win would rank on a list of British boxing’s greatest nights.

Randolph Turpin’s famous victory over the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson is always brought up, as is Lloyd Honeyghan’s stunning stoppage of the brilliant undisputed welterweight champion Donald Curry.

Fabio Wardley’s promoter, Frank Warren, believes that if the former recruitment consultant and white collar boxer can overcome a vast gulf in experience and become the first professional to beat undisputed heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound star Oleksandr Usyk, it would overshadow everything that has gone before it.

“If he did that it is – in world boxing – the biggest thing ever.” Warren told The Ring. “Not British, world boxing. No amateur experience. A couple of white-collar fights fighting Joe Blow from Alamo, and then, after 21 fights, he’s the mandatory challenger to Usyk. If Usyk don't fight him, he'll be declared champion.

“It's like Cinderella stuff, and he’s learnt on the job. He’s gone into every fight probably as an underdog and come through them all.”

British boxing has been waiting for a blue collar hero to emerge.

Almost everybody knows somebody like WBO interim champion, Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs). Millions of people work 9-5 during the day and chase their own sporting dreams in the evening. Thousands of thrill seeking teenagers and out of shape 40-somethings sign up for charity white collar fights and turn into weekend warriors.

Wardley, of course, was a world class athlete hiding in plain sight, but his story will resonate with almost every sports fan who hears it. And although Wardley himself has mentioned that he believes he has outgrown the white collar tag, it is a story he will have to repeat again and again as he breaks into the mainstream.

“I see him with the people," Warren said, "he's really liked. There's no entourage, he just talks. He's a lovely guy, and I'll tell you what he is, he's a warrior.

“He's got a good heart. What people are also forgetting, he's got a good chin. He took some whacks in that fight [with Parker].

“If he fights Usyk, it’s a crossover fight. Everybody knows Usyk. That's what it would be. If he doesn't, he'll be declared champion, and he'll fight one of the [other] guys.

“It'll be easy to make a fight for him then, because someone would want to fight for the title. Any of those guys, Daniel [Dubois] or anyone. A rematch again with Joseph Parker. I'd watch that again.”

Wardley didn’t pull on a pair of boxing gloves until he was 20 years old, and, given his incredible progress, many have speculated just what he might be capable of had he started training 10 years earlier.

Wardley is clearly a quick learner, and Rob Hodgins and the team at the Ben Davison Performance Centre have done a remarkable job in fettling away his rough edges. But it is his willingness to dig his toes into the canvas and take risks that makes him such a dangerous, unpredictable puzzle.

Fighters like Frazer Clarke, Justis Huni and Parker have spent years sparring and fighting top amateurs and experienced heavyweights only to discover to their cost that Wardley doesn’t react in they way they expect him to.

“He learns,” Warren said. “A lot of them don't expect the angles that the punches come from. It’s not like conventional stuff.

“I'll tell you what I would have liked [against Parker]. He's a good finisher, but that he'd been more accurate as he lets them go. But that's happening.”