Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in second round to keep WBO heavyweight crown
Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois defended his WBO heavyweight title with a decisive second‑round stoppage of fellow Briton Fabio Wardley at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday. The 29‑year‑old champion opened the fight with a straight right that sent Wardley to the canvas within 17 seconds of the opening bell. Wardley rose before the count ended and survived a brutal onslaught at the end of the first round, but the bell saved him from further punishment.
In the second round Dubois resumed his assault, landing punch after punch until Wardley’s corner threw in the towel and referee Steve Gray called an end to the contest. “Fabio is a great warrior, coming in for a second time, but it was my time and my era,” Dubois said, adding, “I had my intentions, bad intentions, from the beginning. Our back was against the wall the first time. This time, we just had to go out there and show that we mean business, and that’s what we did tonight.”
The bout was a rematch of the May encounter in Manchester, where Dubois handed Wardley his first professional defeat. After being knocked down twice early, Dubois rallied to stop Wardley in the 11th round and claim the WBO title. Wardley, who was elevated to champion in November after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt, was praised for his courage in the first fight but appeared a shadow of his former self on Saturday. He now holds a record of 20 wins and two losses, while Dubois sits at 24 wins and three defeats.
“I’ve always thrown myself in with the best competitors out there, the toughest, the biggest, hardest, meanest guys around,” Wardley said. “There’s no shame in testing yourself against the best. Daniel’s a testament to coming up short and coming again. I’ll be looking to do the exact same thing. Boxing is a game of fine margins. It can be done and over in a round or two, or it can go into a big old war like it was last time.”
Dubois, a former IBF champion who lost that belt to Usyk in July of the previous year, reclaimed a world title by defeating Wardley. Croatian Filip Hrgovic, the IBF champion after beating Moses Itauma in August, was ringside and called out Dubois for a potential unification bout. “It was an easy night for Daniel. He did a good job, quick win. So he’s ready to fight me in March, right, Daniel?” Hrgovic asked, before promoter Frank Warren suggested other contenders might need to be faced first.
Dubois had previously beaten Hrgovic in June 2024 to capture the interim IBF belt, which was later upgraded to full champion when Usyk vacated. The British fighter said he wants a rematch with Wardley to regain his old belt and dominate the division.