“It was just a war. We both gave each other everything we had,” Daniel Dubois said, full of respect for Fabio Wardley after their brutal heavyweight clash in Manchester. The new WBO world heavyweight champion climbed off the canvas twice before overwhelming the valiant Wardley, finally erasing the “quitter” label that had followed him.
“I was in there with a live dog and I loved it,” Dubois reflected early Sunday morning, shirtless and looking every bit the gladiator. “He came to win and it was a real crowd-pleaser. We had a great fight.” At ringside, the courage and resolve of both men were on full display, capturing the glory and damage of boxing. Dubois rose from two knockdowns—the first just 10 seconds into the fight—while Wardley absorbed relentless punishment, his face masked in blood, until referee Howard Foster stopped the bout early in the 11th round.
Wardley, though less polished, swung with wild power and forced Dubois to dig deep from the start. Before the fourth round, after a second knockdown, trainer Don Charles slapped Dubois across the face. “I needed that slap just to wake up, to stay in reality,” Dubois said. “You can’t slip back. As a warrior you have to go to that dark place and come out on top. I wasn’t going to be denied.” Dubois praised Wardley as “a tough cookie” for never going down despite the beating. “He pestered me. I had to go through my inner battle after a loss. I was nervy at the start, but I pulled it together.”
Last summer, Dubois lost for the third time when he was outclassed by Oleksandr Usyk. Another defeat in his comeback could have been disastrous, but instead of easing back, he challenged the unbeaten Wardley. During his uneven career, the 28-year-old had been accused of quitting—especially after a fractured eye socket against Joe Joyce in 2020 and in the Usyk losses. But his trainer Charles was emphatic: “No human being on the planet could ever question this kid again. What he showed erased any doubt.”
