As the WBO world title fight between Champion Daniel Dubois and Challenger and former WBO Champion Fabio Wardley in The O2 Arena in London, England approaches, it is interesting to observe how both fighters are preparing during fight week.
Both Dubois and Wardley are taking part in the usual media engagements this week to promote their fight. Other than that, Wardley is more low-key in his preparations. However, Dubois is attracting much more attention in the pre-fight buildup not just because he is the reigning WBO Champion, but also due to his rather strange pre-fight preparations.
In this regard, he went on a walkabout in Brixton, London, England, at the beginning of this week with his WBO belt. While it is admirable that Dubois is seen with people, and welcoming photos to be taken with him and well-wishers, he gives the impression that he is an all-conquering hero rather than a fighter preparing to defend his world title against a dangerous opponent. It would surely have been better for Dubois to delay his meet and greet until after he had actually beaten Wardley in Saturday’s fight.
Yet, this is not the first time that Daniel Dubois has done something peculiar in the week leading up to a world title fight. Who can forget his baffling presence at a party in the afternoon of his heavyweight world title clash against Oleksandr Usyk on 19 July last year at Wembley Stadium, London, England? On that occasion, some argued that Dubois allowed his focus to wander by attending this party, when it should have been squarely on making last-minute preparations for his fight against Usyk. They had a valid point, as Dubois ended up losing this fight by knockout in the 5th Round, and his IBF title in the process.
This opens up the debate about whether Dubois is taking Wardley’s challenge too lightly. In the buildup to Dubois v Wardley II, the WBO Champion has gone on record saying that beating Fabio Wardley on Saturday night will be easy. However, Wardley is right to say that if this is the case, Dubois would not have been knocked down twice in the early Rounds in their world title fight on 09 May.
Confidence is one thing. But complacency is a different thing altogether, and Dubois should be wary that he does not fall into this trap. To his credit, Wardley says that he has learned from the mistakes he made in his first fight with Dubois, and will correct them on Saturday. The Ipswich fighter is even honest enough to admit the punches, which earned him his two knockdowns of Dubois in the pair’s first fight, did not land completely accurately. Wardley argues that if they had done so, they would have caused more damage. Further, the video footage from this fight seems to bear this out.
We shall see on Saturday night whether Dubois has prepared correctly for the challenges Fabio Wardley brings. Will it be Repeat of Revenge? One thing for sure is that Daniel Dubois would be foolish to underestimate Wardley, who, like Dubois, has beaten convincingly a former World Champion. Wardley did so when he beat former WBO Champion Joseph Parker by TKO in the 11th Round on 25 October 2025 for the WBO interim heavyweight title.
Time will tell who will be the victor on Saturday night. It should be one helluva fight.
Romer Cherubim
Freelance journalist