It's fight week in Manchester, England where on Saturday night, WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley (pictured) and ex-IBF champ Daniel Dubois wil do battle live on DAZN pay-per-view and DAZN Ultimate. With both men boasting a 95% knockout ratio, Wardley-Dubois practically guarantees fireworks and a knockout finish. As part of the pre-fight festivities, Wardley and Dubois sat down for a DAZN Face Off, and Wardley is confident that he already has the upper hand over ‘Dynamite’. While there was respect between the two, there was a tension in the air, and Wardley was the first to land a verbal jab, claiming that Dubois will not be the man to stop his surge towards the top of the heavyweight division. “What I’ve done before, it’s an age-old story, a step too far, it’s not the right fight,” Wardley began. “I believe I can go all the way to the top, I don’t think there’s a man who can stand in front of me and stop me. Daniel isn’t the man to do that.”
Dubois is often a man of few words, but he was not afraid to speak his mind and labelled Wardley’s heavyweight run as “lucky”. “He’s been lucky,” Dubois said. “He hasn’t faced a fighter like me before. Full credit to him, it’s my time, I’ve had beatings, I’m ready to go.”
Dubois’ three professional losses, one to Joe Joyce and the other two courtesy of current world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, have all come by way of stoppage or knockout, and there is a common trend: they all occurred when the fight reached or past the halfway stage. That could play into Wardley’s hands.
Wardley's two biggest wins to date, the knockouts of Justis Huni and former WBO champion Joseph Parker, were in the tenth and eleventh rounds respectively. Therefore, Wardley may see a knockout in the second half of the fight as a route to victory.
When reflecting on Dubois’ performances so far, Wardley questioned whether the former IBF champion can stand up to the toughest challenges with his inner demons taking over. “In some fights he has shied away from the challenges. It’s swings and roundabouts, the Hrgovic fight, he got stuck into that. For Daniel, it will come down to how he feels on the night. Maybe those inner demons take over and he doesn’t fancy it.”
Once the face-off concluded, it was Wardley who got the better of Dubois in the verbal encounter. Wardley is a calm and articulate presence; he is careful with what he says and always delivers with confidence. However, Dubois is an intimidating figure. He may not say much, but when he does, it’s to the point with ‘Dynamite’ intensely setting his sights on the WBO world heavyweight champion.
The pair will not meet again until fight week in England’s North West, but if the tension was simmering for the fight launch events, it's set to boil over come the opening bell.
The WBO world heavyweight title is on the line for Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois on May 9th, only on DAZN PPV. Buy as a one-off PPV or included, along with the Usyk vs Verhoeven (May 23), Fury vs. Hall (June 13) and Zayas vs. Ennis (June 27) PPVs, with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.
