The 31-year-old Ipswich man was crowned WBO champion in November when Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the belt instead of honouring a mandatory defence against Wardley.
Dubois has previously held the WBA regular and IBF heavyweight titles and known that it’s vital that he comes through this test successfully if he garners any ambitions of remaining at the highest level again.
Undefeated Wardley, who has won 20 of his 21 fights barring a sole draw, boasts 19 knockouts in comparison to Dubois’ 22-3 record with 21 knockouts.
Wardley’s route to the championship is quite remarkable, without any notable amateur history, alternatively a string of white collar bouts prior to thrusting himself into the pro ranks with the backing of Dillian Whyte. Dubois on the other hand has enjoyed amateur successes as a member of team GB and a longer grounding in the game. However many doubted Daniels desire at the top level when he suffered a damaging loss to Joe Joyce 9 fights ago in 2020. It wasn’t the loss that hurt Dubois, it was the manner in which he lost, choosing to take the knee and quit in the 10th round of a fight for the British, Commonwealth and European marbles. It later was revealed that Dubois had suffered an optical bone injury around the eye, regardless questions now loomed around Daniels heart and grit at the highest level. Against the odds Dubois travelled to the US to arrest the WBA regular title trom Trevor Bryan then between 2023 and 2025 Dubois faced Oleksandr Usyk unsuccessfully twice for the championship (once undisputed) before racking impressive wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic (to earn the vacant IBF title ) and an impressive knockout of Anthony Joshua, each of those 5 bouts DDD was a significant underdog.
In 2023 Fabio picked up the British and Commonwealth titles with an impressive stoppage of tough David Adaleye before being held to a draw by Frazer Clarke 5 months later. Wardley rematched Clarke 7 months later in 2024 and administered a frightening knockout in the opening session to solidify his place as the domestic champion. Since the second Clarke fight Wardley has found a way to win in fights where he appeared to be trailing, firstly by knocking out tough Justis Huni, in the 10th round of a fight he was losing and more recently in the 11th round of his fight in October of last year, again in a fight which appeared to be slipping away. Wardley has only heard the final bell once, back on his debut in 2017, and has since enjoyed 9 years of knockout development and literally learning on the job.
This will be Dubois 6th world title fight, he is at amateur and professional levels far more experienced and seasoned than Wardley, but Daniel also carries the scars of damage and self doubt from knockout losses each time he has faced defeat. Wardley is the in form fighter in terms of a winning streak, however Dubois has been flirting at a much classier level over the last 3 years. This is a very interesting fight with huge importance in regard to the future of both men.
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