The key facts

  • Dubois knocked out Wardley in the second round (2:21) and retained the WBO belt
  • Dubois sent his opponent down 17 seconds after the bell
  • Wardley admitted he failed to execute his fight plan; records: Dubois 24-3 (23 KO), Wardley 20-2-1

A quick end to the London rematch

Daniel Dubois retained the WBO world heavyweight title, defeating his fellow countryman Fabio Wardley by technical knockout in the second round on Saturday at London's O2 Arena. It was a rematch of their May 11-round encounter, but this time the fight ended far more quickly.

The course of the fight

Dubois sent Wardley to the canvas 17 seconds after the start of the fight, landing a powerful overhand right to his chin. Until the end of the first round, the 29-year-old champion continued attacking with impunity, and the round ended with Wardley clinging to the ropes under a barrage of punches. The second round began the same way: Dubois (6 feet 5 inches tall) unleashed a series of punches on his opponent, and after 2 minutes 21 seconds of the round, Wardley's corner threw in the towel. Such a start was a mirror image of the first meeting in May, when Wardley himself knocked Dubois down as early as the 16th second.

The fighters' reactions

“I had bad intentions from the very start,” Dubois said in a post-fight interview in the ring, adding that the first time “my back was against the wall,” and now the team wanted to show the seriousness of their intentions. The victory brought his record to 24-3-0 with 23 knockouts. Dubois declared his desire to hold major unification fights in the heavyweight division, which has been fragmented since Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk vacated the WBC, WBA and IBF belts in June: “I am the champion now and I want big fights. At this stage of my career — big money, big fights.” Wardley, whose record became 20-2-1, did not dispute the defeat: “Losing is not fun, but those are the circumstances. I did not execute the fight plan properly, that is what it comes down to.” He noted that he is not ashamed to lose when testing himself against the best, and that boxing is a game of small details: a fight can end in a round or two or turn into a big war, as last time. Wardley started his professional career relatively late, beginning in white-collar bouts.