Their first fight in Manchester in May was a seesaw thriller that went into the eleventh round. The rematch at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night was a different story altogether. Daniel Dubois sent Fabio Wardley to the canvas with a straight right after just 17 seconds, kept him under constant pressure, and made Wardley’s team surrender 2 minutes 21 seconds into round two. Dubois therefore keeps his WBO heavyweight belt.
Many in the sold-out arena of around 19,000 had backed Wardley, who had shocked Dubois with an early knockdown in their first meeting. On Saturday it was the other way round. Wardley, 31, survived a wild opening round but looked slow and open, his punches wide and easy to read. When Dubois trapped him on the ropes again early in the second, Ben Davison, his trainer, waved the towel quickly; he had faced criticism for waiting too long in May.
Dubois, 29, who now has 24 wins, 23 of them inside the distance, against three defeats, called it the start of his era and said he had been fighting with his back to the wall in Manchester. Wardley, a former recruitment consultant who turned professional after only a handful of white-collar bouts, took his second career loss with grace, saying that losing to elite opponents was nothing to be ashamed of.
The next big question is who Dubois fights next. Filip Hrgovic, the IBF titleholder beaten by Dubois back in 2024, climbed into the ring after the bout to stare him down, although promoter Frank Warren wants the Croat to defend at home first. Even more money may be on offer against whoever wins the December clash of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Dubois himself kept it simple: “big money, big fights.”
