Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley Make Weight for WBO Title Rematch in London
Dubois and Wardley are official for Saturday's WBO heavyweight title rematch at the O2 Arena, live on DAZN.
Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley completed their weigh-ins and went face to face one last time Friday in London ahead of their WBO heavyweight title rematch Saturday night at the O2 Arena on DAZN pay-per-view.
Dubois took the WBO belt from Wardley five months ago at the Co-op Live in Manchester, and the rematch was never really in doubt. Wardley held a contractual right to an immediate return after losing his first professional fight, and he exercised it.
The first meeting was brutal. Wardley dropped Dubois in the opening seconds and again in round three, but Dubois rallied from the fourth round onward and broke Wardley down over the championship rounds. Referee Howard Foster stopped the contest in round 11, handing Dubois his second world heavyweight title after previously holding the IBF belt.
Dubois enters the rematch at 23-3 with 21 knockouts. Wardley is 20-1-1 with 19 stoppages. Both men are in their physical primes. Dubois is 28, Wardley is 31.
Frank Warren, the fight's promoter, said Wardley made the call to run it back but believes public demand would have forced the rematch regardless. Saturday night will tell us whether Wardley can make adjustments after those early knockdowns went to waste, or whether Dubois simply has his number.
I love this fight and I love the storyline. Wardley was winning early, put Dubois on the canvas twice in three rounds, and still couldn't finish it. That has to eat at you. Dubois showed the kind of chin and heart that championship heavyweights are made of.
The question Saturday is whether Wardley has a Plan B. If he comes out swinging for another early knockout and doesn't get it, we might see the same second half play out. Dubois grinds you down. He's bigger, he punches harder in the later rounds, and he's been in deeper waters with better fighters.
I'm leaning Dubois by late stoppage again, but Wardley's power makes the first three rounds must-watch television. Don't step away from the screen.
KEEP TALKING FIGHTS.
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