Fabio Wardley has sprung to the defence of trainer Ben Davison against the barrage of criticism which followed his stablemate Moses Itauma's crushing world heavyweight title defeat on Saturday night.

Davison has been eviscerated for 21-year-old Itauma subsiding with exhaustion in the ninth round against Croatia's first world heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic.

Davison may find himself fighting to keep Itauma on his roster at an imminent council of war with promoter Frank Warren

But Wardley - who is in training for the October 17 rematch of the slugfest in which Daniel Dubois took his WBO belt - says: ‘I just can’t believe so much hostility and so much stick being thrown at Ben. He’s been my trainer for seven years and he’s brought me through from my unusual background (white collar boxing) to winning a world title.

‘He doesn’t become a bad trainer because Moses had his first defeat against a really tough opponent.

‘Ben has shown there’s so much more to boxing at the higher levels than just my power to knock people out. Taught me so much. It wasn’t his fault I lost to Daniel. I beat myself,

‘And Ben is now adding the nuances I never knew anything about so I can adapt for the rematch and win this time.’

Warren, however, says: ’Ben and I will have to have a chat. Was there a plan B for when Hrgovic simply refused to be knocked out through eight rounds of punishment?

‘Or did Moses not listen, like footballers who go out on the pitch and don’t do what the manager tells them?

‘Losing happens but they should have managed the fight when so many rounds ahead. Moses should have stayed behind his terrific jab and boxed his way to a decision. He was too obsessed with getting another knock out.

‘So he just kept his foot hard down on the accelerator from start to finish and punched himself out.

‘Of course at 21 Moses can come back to be a world champion but there’s work to be done.’

The unanswered question is whether Davison will be the man doing it.