Daniel Dubois defeated Fabio Wardley in a WBO world title fight on Saturday night as he continued his quest to become the most prestigious heavyweight fighter on the planet with a shock victory. It was the second time Dubois had beaten Wardley in five months, but he dropped a shocking one-sided knockout after a fight-of-the-year contender in May.
Two minutes and 21 seconds into the second round, Wardley was saved from Dubois’ punches by the referee as his trainer, Ben Davison, limped over the ropes in a fluttering white towel. Davison was on the verge of throwing in the towel at the very end of the opening round, but the call ended a disastrous first three minutes for Wardley. He was dropped heavily after just 17 seconds as Dubois landed a left cross followed by a pulverizing right hand.
It was the first time Wardley had been forced to keep score in 23 fights as a professional, and he looked stunned. He seemed helpless as Dubois pummeled him around the ring with a thunderous array of mostly unanswered punches. In the final 15 seconds of the round, Wardley was pinned in Dubois’ corner as the punishing strikes intensified.
He came out for round two, and as he threw some wild haymakers and stray balls, Wardley couldn’t stop the dark stream of punches that showered him. The end was merciful.
Wardley had gone to the ring sullen but purposeful, but the bridge of his nose still bore the red scars of a deep gash he had sustained while sharing the ring with Dubois. But as soon as he went over the rope, he raised his right hand. Dubois followed at a much quicker lick as Salt-N-Pepa’s Whatta Man boomed around him. The two men were brought face-to-face for their final instructions, and a massacre ensued shortly thereafter.
Dubois’s boxing fundamentals are far superior to Wardley’s cruder technique, which lacks a proper foundation in amateur boxing. Wardley used to be a white-collar boxer, and his rise to become a respected world champion is a difficult but highly commendable sporting story. He lost his title and undefeated record to Dubois in their amicable yet heartbreaking first fight; and this crushing defeat confirmed the limits of Wardley’s talent.
The May contest took a lot out of Wardley, as despite knocking Dubois down twice in the early rounds, he was horribly battered for the remainder of the fight ending in 11th. He would have been better advised to take a far longer break from boxing than rushing back into a rematch. It can only be hoped that the salutary lessons taught by Dubois will persuade him to change course.
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“It’s never fun to lose – but it is what it is, it’s the name of the game,” Wardley said in his conversational way. “I’ve always taken the biggest challenges … I tried to adjust some things, but it didn’t work tonight. Boxing is a game of thin margins. I didn’t touch the canvas, so there’s a bit of pride in that.”
The future for Dubois, in contrast, is much more straightforward. This clinical and decisive performance will propel him towards a potential unification run against rival versions of the world title, Filip Hrgovic and Agit Kabayel. But, as he proved with this utterly dominant performance, Dubois looks a cut above the rest of the heavyweight pack.