Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois were overshadowed by their representatives on Thursday, as Michael Ofo and Sam Jones traded verbal barbs at a pre-fight press conference.
Saturday will bring an all-British heavyweight title fight, as Wardley defends the WBO belt against Dubois, who is a former IBF champion.
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The fight will take place at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, where Wardley puts his unbeaten record on the line and aims to hand Dubois his fourth loss (and fourth via stoppage).
Fabio Wardley (right) with his manager Michael Ofo (Reuters)
But before Wardley, 31, and Dubois, 28, trade punches, it was Ofo and Jones who produced the most-captivating exchanges on Thursday.
Ofo, who manages Wardley, said of Dubois: “There’s lots of interviews he’s walked out of this week, and I don’t class that as being a complete professional athlete.”
Indeed, Dubois prematurely ended an interview with journalist Ariel Helwani this week, as well as one with fight broadcaster DAZN. Helwani tweeted after his interview with the Briton: “I’ve interviewed @DynamiteDubois before and have always enjoyed it. This one was on me. I should have and could have done a much better job. Much love and respect to DDD, always.”
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Ofo continued: “He’s not been professional throughout the week; Fabio’s been professional. All of our obligations, we’ve turned up on time and we’ve done what was required.”
Firstly, Dubois’s manager Riz Khan said, “Michael, he’s not come here for a circus, he’s come here to fight,” before Dubois’s agent Jones added: “In the build-up, they’ve asked him some stupid questions.”
When Ofo said of Jones, “This is the same guy that called [Dubois] a quitter previously,” Jones hit back, “Michael, you’re digging up old stuff,” and dismissed Ofo’s work with Wardley.
In turn, Ofo accused Dubois’s team of being a “bunch of yes-men” who “encourage stupid behaviour”.
Daniel Dubois’s agent Sam Jones got into a back-and-forth with Ofo (Getty)
Wardley, 31, and Dubois, 28, also had their own back-and-forths, of course.
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At one point, Dubois said: “I heard you called me the ‘dust man’, and I’m gonna collect the trash, boy. I’m gonna collect that trash. Na, it’s disrespect, so I’m gonna put it right in the ring, boy.”
Wardley replied: “I didn’t call you the ‘dust man’; someone asked me what you might have as a job [if you weren’t a boxer], and I said: ‘Might be a bin man.’ There was nothing negative in that.
“Don’t let other people get in your head and tell you what it comes across like. You didn’t hear what I said, because you don’t run your own social media. You let other people talk to you and tell you what it should be like. It wasn’t like that, I didn’t say it was a bad job.”
Wardley also labeled Dubois’s “mentality” both his greatest strength and weakness, saying: “I think sometimes you’ve seen in Daniel’s fights, he’s proven to be very durable, strong, mentally resilient, and in other fights, you’ve seen that lacking for whatever reason – whether that be lacking confidence in training, or the team around you haven’t done the right job. It depends on what Daniel turns up, I think that can be the flip of a coin sometimes.”
Wardley and Dubois facing off after their final pre-fight press conference (Reuters)
While Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) would not be drawn on an exact prediction for how the fight might play out, Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) specified: “It’s gonna be over and out, he’s gonna be cleaned out.
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“There’s gonna be no questions about it. There’s gonna be no ifs, buts, maybes. I’m gonna land clean, land sharp, and I’m gonna get him out of there.
“Look, I wish him all the best. I hope he’s healthy, I hope he’s happy, I hope everything’s all good. I hope camp’s gone well, I hope he’s fresh, I hope he’s in the shape of his life, because all them things are ‘yes’ for me.”
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