LONDON, England — Fabio Wardley has described Saturday night’s crossroads clash between Moses Itauma and Dillian Whyte as a "lose-lose" due to his unique position straddling both camps.

The 30-year-old heavyweight has been managed by Whyte since 2018 and credits The Body Snatcher for taking a chance on him when his career was struggling to get off the ground.

But Wardley is also the only Whyte-managed fighter who is trained by Ben Davison and therefore a stablemate of Itauma, who faces the 37-year-old in the main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at ANB Arena on Saturday live on DAZN pay-per-view.

With his baby still only two months old, Wardley will not be ringside and will instead be watching from his sofa but admits his split loyalties could make it a difficult one to handle.

“I’ve got splinters on my backside from sitting on the fence with this one,” Wardley told The Ring. “I think the best term for it is lose-lose in my case.

“But I guess ultimately I'm a boxing fan and it's a great boxing fight, it's an intriguing fight for a variety of reasons, so it'll be a very interesting to watch.

“I care about both guys, but the only thing I can wish for is that they both come out healthy and, genuinely, may the best man win on the night. All I hope is that there's no controversy and nothing to take away from what is such an intriguing contest.”

A number of leading heavyweights turned down facing the unbeaten Itauma on this date with Derek Chisora even saying that he was offered £2m for the fight.

The 41-year-old snubbed the chance and later suggested that Whyte will get "battered badly" by the heavyweight prodigy from Chatham, Kent.

But Whyte, with only a pair of low-key wins in nearly three years, jumped at what he sees as a chance to launch himself back into the world heavyweight title picture. For Wardley, that was no surprise.

“Dillian has always been like that,” Wardley said. “He has never been shy of anything and neither have I. That’s the school of thought that he brought me up in. It’s about believing in yourself and if the opportunity is in front of you, take it, jump at it.

“There has never been an opponent I’ve said no to and it’s largely down to me being side-by-side with him and him saying, 'You take these opportunities when you’re part of this team'. We don’t say no. That word is not in our vocabulary. We push, we fight, we move, we crack on and we get stuck in.

“He’s very much an advocate and a front-runner with that. Where others might be running scared of Moses, it proves Dil's character. He has said, 'I have the self belief, the experience, the quality and the confidence to crack on with this and see where I land.'"

Given Wardley has not boxed a southpaw since 2022, he has had no reason to spar Itauma at Davison’s gym but he has seen first-hand just how good the 20-year-old is during their training sessions.

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) has only fought 25 professional rounds but has been made a favourite to continue that red-hot streak against Whyte, a former British and WBC interim heavyweight champion.

“It’s a funny one isn’t it because even with all his experience and accolades, people seem to be basing their pick on the fact Dillian has been out of the ring for a little while, or the level of his last couple of opponents,” Wardley said.

“They haven’t been the right kind of tests that he has been looking for in terms of quality and wanting to really push himself and test himself, but this one is a fight I know he will be very much up for.

“It’s always a bit different when you know the opponent is so dangerous. It gives you that kick to really switch into a different gear. We’ve seen what Dil can be like once he hits that mode, but at 37 it’s just a question of whether he can still pull that out of the bag.

“I haven’t been in the gym at all since my last fight so I haven’t seen Moses or anyone else. I have spoken to Ben and he said Moses is in really good form and looking really good, so it’s shaping up into a really interesting matchup.”