Daniel Dubois survived two knockdowns to defeat Fabio Wardley by knockout in an epic British heavyweight clash in Manchester.
Daniel Dubois overcame early setbacks to wrest the WBO world heavyweight title from Fabio Wardley at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester last night. Dubois (23-3, 22 knockouts) was knocked down in the first and third rounds, but kept his composure and secured a technical knockout in the eleventh round to be crowned world champion for the second time. Wardley (20-1-1, 19 knockouts) thus loses his title without a successful title defense, having only been elevated to world champion at the end of last year.
The fight could not have started better for the man from Ipswich. Wardley sent Dubois to the floor in the opening seconds with a hard right punch to the back of the head. The challenger quickly got back up, but in his first fight since losing by T.K.O. in round five to Oleksandr Usyk, the early signs looked worrying.
Dubois takes control
However, Dubois recovered and tried to establish his superior jab in the second round, which he arguably won. Nevertheless, he had to take another knee to the ring mat in the third round after Wardley landed a powerful right jab to the head. Again, Dubois rallied behind his left jab and as the fight progressed, he brought his right jab home with increasing frequency. In fact, Dubois clearly took control of the heavyweight duel from the fourth round onwards and dominated until the fight was stopped in round eleven.
With a completely swollen right eye and a deformed nose, Wardley showed enormous toughness and a chin of granite. Despite being hit hard, he miraculously stayed on his feet for several rounds. By the tenth round at the latest, Wardley looked battered and worn down, while even the DAZN commentators called on the referee to stop the fight. The end finally came at the start of the eleventh round. Dubois backed Wardley into the corner, scoring first with a single left jab and then with a heavy right straight to the head, prompting referee Howard Foster to stop the fight. Wardley deserves credit for still standing at the time of the stoppage.
This duel will go down in the history of British boxing as one of the most entertaining heavyweight fights of all time. Promoter Frank Warren said after the fight on DAZN: “There is a rematch clause.”