DANIEL DUBOIS and Fabio Wardley might have looked like they threw caution to the wind in their fight of the year — but it was actually a game of inches.
, 29, survived knockdowns in rounds one and three in the 11th.
Ahead of their rematch, Dubois’ ex-trainer SHANE McGUIGAN tells JACK FIGG where the bout will be.
DANIEL DUBOIS
HEAVY HANDS
Daniel will have his hands right up, then he drops them as he swings over his right hand — which is like a sledgehammer.
He’s got really dense bones and heavy arms. So, it’s like swinging a sledgehammer through space.
Daniel and might be the most naturally heaviest-handed fighters in the heavyweight division.
With , if he was to throw a slightly slower shot, his power wouldn’t be there.
That’s why when I got David at the end of his career, his speed was lacking and he didn’t have that same explosiveness.
When I worked with Daniel, it was a very different sort of power. It was slow but it was just so connected throughout the shot.
DANGEROUS JAB
What Daniel does is he tends to jab with you. So when someone starts that jab, you’ve got a decision to make: you either parry it, counter it, or take your head off the line and jab with them.
The Home of Boxing in 2026
There's a massive year of boxing ahead!
It has already been a blockbuster year inside the ring, and it is not going to stop anytime soon!
All eyes are focused on the ‘Battle of Britain’ between and , with the pair set to finally settle their decade-long rivalry in December.
Before that, October sees and face off in a rematch of their thrilling May fight, while returns against Christian Mbili on Halloween.
October
- Sat 17 – Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley 2 – DAZN
- Sat 24 – Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello – DAZN
- Sat 31 – Canelo Alvarez vs Christian Mbili – DAZN
November
- Sat 7 – Joshua Buatsi vs Willy Hutchinson 2 – DAZN
- Sat 7 – Chris Billam-Smith vs Cheavon Clarke – Sky Sports
- Sat 28 – Agit Kabayel vs Nelson Hysa – DAZN
December
- Fri 11 – Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua – Netflix
- Sat 12 – Dmitry Bivol vs Callum Smith – DAZN
- Sat 19 – Anthony Cacace vs Nick Ball – DAZN
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The old-school heavyweights, they keep their hand right in front of their face. They’re just deflecting it and going at the same time.
It’s like using the momentum to go straight in on their shot.
We saw this against Filip Hrgovic. He was good at moving his head with his shots.
FOOTWORK
The jab is the most fundamental shot. You can’t teach power — but can teach the fundamental footwork.
Being in the gym from a young age, you don’t have attributes like power.
So you need to go into the basics of and that always boils down to footwork.
Daniel uses his first line of defence. That’s probably why he doesn’t tend to move his head, because he always looks at his first line of defence as being his footwork and drop-back.
And for somebody that is 6ft 4in, boxing guys at 6ft 8in, 6ft 9in, the difference between being out of range and then travelling into range is an explosive step-in.
Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley 2 - all the info
It's time for round two
Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley square up for the second time this year with the WBO title up for grabs once again!
Dynamite demonstrated one of his most passionate performances when these as Dubois got off the canvas twice before securing a stunning 11th round stoppage victory.
And as a result, it saw hand over his WBO heavyweight title after just his second defence.
However, the former champion triggered his rematch release clause for a chance to earn the belt back in front of a packed London crowd.
KEY INFO
LATEST NEWS
RELIVE THE FIRST FIGHT
VIDEO
Look at some of the best-ever fighters that are smaller than their opponents, like , he was able to transition and go in.
A lot of big guys lack the athleticism, they lack that balance, they lack the ability to move their feet. But he’s so well-positioned, so well-balanced, and it means he’s dangerous at any time.
STARTING SLOW
Daniel’s biggest problem is he’s a slow starter. We’ve seen it in the first fight. He was down within nine seconds.
The thing with Daniel is he’s always worried about his engine.
After the fight with , he was constantly worried about that and about being exhausted in a fight. A lot of the time in the changing rooms, you need to get him warmed up.
You need to get him mobile. You need to get him moving — but he’s reluctant to do it.
And he always gets better as the fights go on, apart from against , who’s a master.
Everybody else, he’s warmed into the fight and got better.
He’s vulnerable early, as you saw against Wardley and Kevin Lerena. He was put on the deck and then you’re constantly playing catch-up.
You’re trying to settle a guy already a little bit unsettled — but he did fantastic in the first fight.
I feel like he did great in the Lerena bout because he literally nearly severed his ACL. He’s got an ability to adapt.
FABIO WARDLEY
LEAD HAND CONTROL
Fabio reaches with the jab, pauses, and then he shoots the right hand, normally people go jab for jab. He’s going straight off the line.
What he’s looking to do is create space for his right hand to come round at an angle.
And this is quite smart stuff. We’ve got to give him his props. He’s got a lot of power but also with that, you’ve got to learn to set it up.
At top-level boxing, you need to be able to change the range on especially your lead hand, so your opponent falls straight into it.
Fabio’s constantly looking to find that range on his right hand.
If he can touch the lead hand, you’re going to gravitate towards the target, and then it just allows him to just slot that shot round the side.
REFLEXES
He’s definitely a reflex fighter. He’s a fast starter and had Dubois on the canvas within nine seconds. He beat most of his opponents when on the way up early.
And that’s down to his reflexes. We talk about his white-collar background.
But his get-out-of-jail card is his upper body-torso movement. That speed is generated from his hip area. He’s generating momentum to pull off and pull back.
Those sort of pull counters and things, they work early in fights. Once fatigue sets in with these heavyweights — as you see with Wardley against Justis Huni — same thing.
He was very lively, he’s got power, he’s got reflexes.
But then as the fight tends to go on, he stops being as reactive and gets hit at the end of the shot as they’re finding that range on him.
But it also just shows how effective speed is and power is for a heavyweight.
Most of these guys don’t have those gifts and those abilities. He’s a fast puncher, tough, and uses his reflexes to his advantage.
Fundamentals in boxing usually win fights and being set up to be reactive it’s dangerous. You can also come unstuck pretty quickly.
POWERING UP
Fabio’s got unorthodox power. He throws many slip uppercuts as well, which is quite a high-risk but very athletic shot.
What he does best, most importantly, is how he sets his right hand up.
He always paws it, he shoots it through, and then he either goes with you, or he slips, reacts and then counters you.
GETTING GREEDY
Every fighter has negatives and it’s down to the coach and team to be able to eliminate them as much as possible.
But one of his biggest negatives, in my opinion, is he gets a little bit greedy, a little bit reckless and gives away far too many rounds — especially in the middle half of a fight.
We talked about that unorthodox power and looking for that one shot. And I think you can see it in the Huni fight. He gave away far too many rounds.
The fight was almost fully swayed towards 8-2, potentially.
I think the first two rounds, he was definitely competitive, and it could have gone either way.
But then there was just round after round, giving it away.
I feel like with that durability Fabio has, maybe he thinks, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got this unorthodox power, I’ve got this durability’.
We’ve seen with his nose, it does open up, which will hinder him throughout the rest of his career.
