WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley will put his recent roll of success on the line again Saturday night in London's O2 Arena, as he defends against an equally big puncher and former IBF champ Daniel Dubois.
On Saturday night in London it's a highly anticipated battle there between two noteworthy heavyweights, as WBO champ Fabio Wardley will make the first defense of his crown. This, as he battles the former IBF world champion Daniel Dubois.
The two met the media Thursday afternoon in anticipation of their 12 round showdown that specifically for Wardley, could lead to a much bigger title fight late in 2026.
Wardley reflected on his journey to this point,
"It's been a wild 10 years (his rise in the ranks). It's been a roller coaster on an upward trajectory," Wardley said. "I came into boxing the way you see myself now, throwing myself into the deep end.
Jumping in with guys like Derek Chisora, like Dillian Whyte, like Richard Riakapore. Guys that have wealth's, and bags and bags more experience than me. And me knowing that if I want to compete at this level, I need to catch up to them boys as quick as possible. And the best way to do that was to jump down in the ring with them and spar and get all the experience that I could."
I haven't changed my outlook. Whether I take it into sparring or into my fights. I want to fight the best that's out there."
Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) is coming off his dramatic TKO victory over champion Joseph Parker in October to capture the WBO belt. The upset was on the list for one of the top ones of 2025 in all of the sport. It followed his dramatic KO in the 10th round of Australian contender Justis Huni in June of last year and a first round, rematch demolition of fellow Brit Frazer Clarke in October 2024.
Hear Dan Rafael and me preview the fight off our "Big Fight Weekend Preview' podcast by clicking play below,
Enter Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs), who was on the upward trajectory himself with his win over Croatian Filip Hrgovic by TKO in June 2024 and then, the win of his career with the booming knockout win over former the unified champion Joshua in November 2024.
However, he has also endured two stoppage defeats against Oleksandr Usyk. The most recent was his last fight, as he was dominated and knocked down multiple times in a fifth round TKO loss to undisputed champ Oleksandr Usyk last July. Usyk had also previously kayoed Dubois in August of 2023.
This would be a chance to regain a portion of the title, like Dubois had before, however, the two losses to Usyk means it's unlikely that the Ukranian would fight him, again.
However, if Wardley were to score another spectacular KO Saturday night, he's definitely viable to Usyk, provided the champ wins his heavily favored bout with kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt at the end of the month.
And, with the track record of both men scoring big KOs in their past, look for plenty of big punches early in this one.