Twenty wins, 19 KOs. Twenty-two wins, 21 KOs.
Few heavyweight title fights in history have packed quite such a considerable punch as Fabio Wardley’s first defence of his WBO title against British compatriot Daniel Dubois in Manchester.
Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) is straight back into title action after losing the IBF belt to the imerious Oleksandr Usyk last July, when he was stopped in five one-sided rounds.
However, this is also the Dubois who mercilessly demolished Anthony Joshua at Wembley in September 2024. Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) opting to put it all on the lie against such a destructive force underlines how high his confidence presently rides.
A former white-collar fighter without formal amateur experience, the 31-year-old has shown he fears no man and no challenge, as evidenced by the manner in which he duked it out with Joseph Parker and outlasted the resurgent New Zealander in his previous fight.
The build-up to the fight has developed an edge and, once the first bell goes, Queensberry’s promotional tagline of “Don’t Blink” will double up as very sound advice.
Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois odds: Who is the favourite?
Several bookmakers are finding it hard to pick between these two monster punchers in what promises to be a genuine 50/50 shootout. Both Wardley and Dubois could be found priced around evens early in fight week. You can follow the betting odds live with The Sporting News below:
MORE: Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois undercard: Breakdown of fights before main event
Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois prediction
The form is unquestionably with Wardley, who is operating at a level of self-belief that has always seemed slightly beyond Dubois despite the latter’s phenomenal athletic and technical abilities.
The Ipswich fighter has thrived in adversity — knocking out Tokyo Olympic medalist Frazer Clarke in sickening fashion inside a round after their initial bout ended in a 12-round split decision draw.
Wardley was way behind against Australian slickster Justis Huni before laying out his foe with a brutal overhand right in round 10. Last time out against Parker, he proved the championship rounds are his territory, sustaining a decisive barrage into the 11th.
Dubois is not renowned for coming through such deep waters, with all of his three career defeats coming with him on a knee and unwilling to continue, the fight beaten out of him — once by the now-faded Joe Joyce and twice by Usyk.
Scratch a little below the surface of those punishing losses, however, and you find the fighter who came through three knockdowns and a knee injury to bludgeon Kevin Lerena to defeat in December 2022. Dubois was also an early star of the Riyadh Season era as he drained Jarrell Miller’s considerable tank and battered Filip Hrgovic after taking the Croatian’s best.
Those wins set up his night of nights against Joshua, where the former two-time unified heavyweight champion was dropped in rounds one, three and four. In the fifth, Joshua threw caution to the wind and buzzed Dubois, who responded by turning his lights out with a short right hand.
Along with their evident fight-altering and opponent-wrecking power, neither of these men is too hard to find. Dubois, in particular, seems to have a complete aversion to blocking punches and is only comfortable leaping out of range with his feet.
Wardley will see plenty of ways to hurt Dubois, test his will and turn this into another horrible evening. To do so, he will need to exercise a level of caution the Huni and Parker fights suggested he was pretty far removed from.
Any heavyweight can knock out another in the right circumstances, although no Wardley opponent to date has carried the sort of power Dubois possesses in both fists. The champion has made a habit of walking through the fire in recent bouts, to the widespread delight of fans.
But if Dubois can start at the sort of tempo he managed from the off against Joshua and get Wardley on the end of his ramrod jab, that could be a blaze from which Britain’s most unlikely and admirable world champion is unable to emerge.
Prediction: Dubois via TKO 4
Read the full article here