What To Know
- Just five months after their 2026 Fight of the Year, British heavyweights Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley will get back in the ring for a high-stakes rematch on Saturday.
- The winner will be the WBO World Heavyweight champion and top dog in the shifting heavyweight scene.
- The fight card airs on DAZN PPV in the U.S. starting with prelims at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT and the main card at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. Cost is $59.99 or free with the DAZN Ultimate subscription.
After savage nonstop action and taking a beating in a TKO loss against Daniel Dubois in the 2026 Fight of the Year to date in May, no one expected Fabio Wardley to run toward a repeat and invoke his rematch clause so soon.
But just six days later, Wardley of Ipswich, England (20-1-1, 19 KOs), insisted on an immediate rematch against the new WBO World Heavyweight champion Dubois of London (23-3, 22 KOs) to get his title back and avenge his first loss.
The two British heavyweights run it back this Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. The fight airs on DAZN PPV in the U.S.
Dubois weighed in at 253 pounds; Wardley weighed in at 248 pounds.
Wardley Confident He’ll Get Revenge
In their final remarks this week, Dubois was a man of few words as fans have come to know. “Feeling stronger, feeling just grounded and ready to go out there and do my job. You know, another one, get through this and do bigger and better things.”
There couldn’t be a bigger contrast with the charismatic and conversational Wardley, who said fearing a loss is worse than coping with one.
“I want to be in there with the best guys. So that does put you in a situation for jeopardy for things to go wrong, and yeah, okay, did it on the night. But I can right those wrongs,” insisted Wardley.
Wardley said he and Davison know where he went wrong. “It didn’t take a lot for me to look at that fight and go ‘right, these are the areas I messed up.’ It’s trivial and almost funny to say at this stage, but I have only had 27 odd fights in total in my whole life … I’m still doing a bit of learning. I can go back to the drawing board, be honest with myself, and go ‘Right, these are the things we need to adjust going forward,’ and make those changes.”
Fight of the Year 2026 Hard To Top
The sensational all-action fight sent boxing fans on a dramatic roller coaster ride, with Wardley flooring Dubois twice in the early rounds of their fight. But a determined Dubois summoned all his will and dished out eight straight rounds of brutal punishment, hurting Wardley and bloodying his face before referee Howard Foster stopped the fight.
After the fight, Queensberry Promotions chief Frank Warren called Wardley vs Dubois the best heavyweight fight he’s ever put on. Most observers agreed, and it’s been the leading candidate for the 2026 Fight of the Year since, without any other content coming close.
Now both Wardley and Dubois vow to deliver another epic battle. It’s setting an unreasonably high bar to expect Fight of the Year 2 in Dubois Wardley 2, but without a doubt everyone will be on the edge of their seats watching them try.
Quick Dubois Wardley 2 Rematch A Mistake?
Though Wardley was stopped in the first fight, he was never knocked down. He ended the fight bloodied and bruised. Wardley’s trainer Ben Davison admitted a few days after the fight he made a mistake not stepping in earlier.
Given the punishment Wardley suffered, reactions to the challenger’s aggressive pursuit of revenge are mixed. But in past eras of boxing, an immediate rematch of a highly competitive fight was the norm.
The time between the first and second fights between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo in 2005 was five months (154 days).
The time between the first and second fights of the Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward trilogy in 2002 was six months, five days (189 days).
The time between the first fight and the rematch between Dubois and Wardley is five months and eight days (161 days).
Wardley’s decision comes after his success in the rematch of his draw with rival Fraser Clarke. In the first bout, Wardley and Clarke went to war in a similar all-action fight for 12 hard rounds at the O2 Arena in March 2024 for Wardley’s British and Commonwealth Titles.
The rematch took place six months later. While everyone expected Round 13, Wardley took down and took out Clarke in a single round, dropping and stopping Clarke in 2:28 seconds.
Can Wardley Adjust? Can Dubois Avoid Damage?
Wardley, who started boxing at age 20 and had no amateur fights save a handful of so-called white collar fights, has followed a steep learning curve. He may see the Clarke rematch as the template for his rematch with Dubois. But Clarke is nowhere near the experienced, brutal power puncher Wardley faced in Dubois.
Still, it won’t be any surprise if Wardley and trainer Davison employ the same basic approach, but fine-tune Wardley’s follow-through. Though it seems ridiculous to call Wardley a work in progress at the heavyweight championship level, he didn’t start boxing until age 20, after giving up his dream of becoming a professional soccer player.
His athletic talents have carried him far. In the Dubois fight, his heart kept him in the mix until he had nothing left.
Wardley needs to add a stiffer jab to keep Dubois from landing fire long enough for him to land solid power shots, enough to stop Dubois. Wardley says none of the knockdown punches he landed in the first fight landed flush. It’s a sobering thought. These are all marks on Wardley’s side of the ledger.
But Wardley needs to improve his connect rate. In the first fight, Wardley landed 27% of his punches. Dubois landed an impressive 45% of his shots. Wardley must shift this number. Wardley also needs to avoid punching himself out if he knocks Dubois down early. This is something Davison should have addressed in training camp. We’ll find out if he was successful.
Wardley knows what it’s like to win a rematch, but Dubois’ worst loss came in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, though he also lost their first fight.
But there is no denying that apart from Usyk, who seems to have one foot out the door, Dubois is the number one heavyweight in the world. He and trainer Don Charles have developed an ideal approach that plays to his strengths.
Dubois may have one of the best jabs in boxing, and it sets up his own devastating power punches. He is smart and nimble on his feet for a big man. Although he was criticized for folding against Usyk, Dubois’s critics have to agree his chin is up to the task along with his heart.
Oddsmakers Call It For Daniel Dubois
Dubois’s performance, along with his thrashing of Anthony Joshua, makes him the oddsmaker’s choice. FanDuel Sportsbook lists Dubois as the favorite at minus-460, while Wardley is the underdog at plus-320.Dubois by KO/TKO is minus 200; Wardley by KO/TKO is plus-370.
With 42 knockout wins between them, no one favors a decision. Dubois is plus-480 to win by decision; Wardley is a ridiculous plus-1300 to win by decision.
Warren believes it will come down to the lessons learned in the first fight. “As soon as that bell goes, knowing their styles, knowing as a fan, knowing boxing, it’s just going to be get down on it. They’re just going to be throwing their shots, trying to get the other guys’ respect and attention, and letting the bombs go … I just don’t see it going the distance at all.”
Ben Davison: Reputation on the Line
The winner will without a doubt be the biggest name in boxing’s glamour division. But the person who may need a win more than his fighter is Ben Davison.
Widely regarded as one of boxing’s best trainers of his generation, Davison has been on a rough road, with Moses Itauma’s loss to Filip Hrgovic, Wardley’s loss to Dubois in the first fight, and Anthony Joshua’s loss to Daniel Dubois in 2024.
With Joshua set to face Tyson Fury at the end of November, Davison is in the hot seat to deliver.
Prediction: Who wouldn’t love a trilogy between these two men? If putting it in print can manifest it, I’m squarely behind Fabio Wardley to continue his steep learning curve and put a hurt on Daniel Dubois.
My boxing head says differently: that Dubois is simply too skilled and too dialed in to lose this fight, and that he will hold off Wardley again. And that’s what makes it so much fun to watch on Saturday. One thing we can say for sure: Be in your seat early.
Notes on the Dubois Wardley 2 Undercard
The undercard lineup is an afterthought as the main event sells itself. But there are two fights worth noting.
In the co-main event, Louie O’Doherty of Essex (12-0, 3 KOs) defends his British and Commonwealth lightweight title against Michael Gomez Jr. of Manchester (23-2, 8 KOs). This will be your opportunity to refresh your drinks and snacks before the main event.
Heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan (17-0, 15 KOs), the Olympic gold medalist who is part of the Uzbeki stable of boxers with trainer Joel Diaz in Indio, California, takes on British prospect Solomon Dacres (10-1, 3 KOs). Dacres’ loss came to David Adeleye, the most notable name on his resume.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
