Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in second round to retain WBO heavyweight title

Daniel Dubois stopped Fabio Wardley in the second round of their heavyweight rematch in London on Saturday, 17 October, retaining his WBO title when Wardley’s corner threw in the towel. It was Dubois’s second victory over Wardley in five months, and the intervention ended the challenger’s attempt to regain the belt.

How Dubois forced the second-round stoppage

Dubois struck Wardley with a right hand early in the first round, ESPN reported. The Independent placed the standing knockdown inside 17 seconds; The Guardian reported that the ropes held Wardley up and the referee gave him a standing count. Wardley narrowly missed with a right cross near the ropes as he tried to respond, but Dubois kept pressing him through the opening round.

‘Fabio is a great warrior, but it was my time, my era,’ Dubois said after the win, according to The Independent. He also said he had entered the fight with ‘bad intentions from the beginning’. ESPN listed Dubois’s record after the bout as 24 wins and three losses, with 23 knockouts; Wardley’s stood at 20 wins, two losses and one draw, with 19 knockouts.

How the rematch differed from their May fight

Wardley had knocked Dubois down twice early in their first meeting in May, but Dubois recovered to stop him in the 11th round, The Independent reported. In Saturday’s rematch, Dubois hurt Wardley almost immediately. Davison’s decision to intervene followed criticism of his failure to pull Wardley out of the first fight, according to the same report.

At Friday’s ceremonial weigh-in at London’s Old Spitalfields Market, both fighters recorded career-high weights and Dubois was five pounds heavier, The Independent reported. Our earlier report on the weigh-in covered Wardley’s pre-fight knockout prediction; Saturday’s second-round stoppage was the development since then.