Daniel Dubois overwhelmed Fabio Wardley in their WBO world title fight on Saturday night as he continued his quest to become the most authoritative heavyweight fighter on the planet with this crushing victory. This was the second time in five months that Dubois has defeated Wardley but, after their fight of the year contender in May, this was a shockingly one-sided shellacking.
After two minutes and 21 seconds of round two, Wardley was rescued from the bludgeoning fists of Dubois by the referee, just as the fluttering white towel of his trainer, Ben Davison, sailed over the ropes in surrender. Davison had been on the brink of throwing in the towel at the very end of the opening round but the bell sounded to end a disastrous first three minutes for Wardley. He was dropped heavily after just 17 seconds as Dubois landed a left cross followed by a pulverising right hand.
It was the first time Wardley had been forced to take a count in 23 fights as a professional and he looked suitably stunned. He seemed helpless as Dubois pummelled him around the ring with a thunderous array of mostly unanswered punches. In the last 15 seconds of the round Wardley was pinned in Dubois’ corner as the punishing blows intensified.
He came out for the second round and, while he threw some wild haymakers and wayward uppercuts, Wardley could not stem the dark tide of punches engulfing him. The end was merciful.
Wardley had walked to the ring in a sombre yet purposeful manner but the bridge of his nose still carried a red scar of the deep gash he had suffered when he last shared a ring with Dubois. But he raised his right hand high as soon as he ducked through the ropes. 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 carnage ensued soon afterwards.
Dubois’ boxing fundamentals are far superior to Wardley’s more crude technique, which lacks a proper grounding in amateur boxing. Wardley used to be a white-collar boxer and his rise to becoming a respected world champion is an unlikely but hugely admirable sporting story. He lost his title and unbeaten record to Dubois in their gripping but also harrowing first fight; and this devastating defeat confirmed the limits of Wardley’s talent.
“I had bad intentions from the beginning,” Dubois said. “Our back was against the wall last time – this time we had to go out and show we mean business from the start.”
The contest in May took chunks out of Wardley because, despite knocking down Dubois twice in the early rounds, he suffered a horrible pounding for the rest of a bout, which ended in the 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 doled out by Dubois persuade him to change course.
“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 on the biggest challenges … I tried to adjust some things but it didn’t work tonight. Boxing is a game of fine margins. I didn’t touch the canvas, so there’s a little bit of pride in that.”
Wardley is an engaging and intelligent man and he would carve out an impressive career as a boxing analyst on television. It would be far better for his health if he could do his best work in the years to come on the safe side of the ropes.
The future for Dubois, in contrast, is much more straightforward. This clinical and decisive performance will propel him even more forcefully towards a potential series of unification contests against Filip Hrgovic and Agit Kabayel, who hold rival versions of the world title. But, as he proved with this utterly dominant performance, Dubois looks a cut above the rest of the heavyweight pack.
