Daniel Dubois vs. Fabio Wardley II | DAZN - 17 October 2026

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

DUBOIS' TRAINER WARNS AGAINST COMPLACENCY IN WARDLEY REMATCH

Don Charles expects Daniel Dubois to eliminate “fundamental errors” before his rematch with Fabio Wardley.

Charles shares a unique bond with the WBO heavyweight champion. The pair split unexpectedly, then quickly reunited before the first fight against Wardley.

After producing a Fight of the Year contender on May 9, the British rivals will meet again at London’s O2 Arena on October 17.

Dubois was floored within the first 20 seconds and dropped again in round three in a shocking, dramatic start. Charles found the words to calm his man down and kept him focused on the end goal.
Dubois (23-3, 22 KOs) became more confident and dominant as the rounds passed. He'd taken full control by the time referee Howard Foster stepped in to save Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KOs) in the 11th round of a violent, exciting classic.

Charles doesn't expect the rematch to be straightforward, but he's doing everything he can to ensure Dubois won't go through the same difficulties again.

“There's no such thing as easy," Charles said during Queensberry’s “Inside Look” countdown show. "We're going to try and erase the mistakes we made in the first fight, and you might not get totally rid of the bad mistakes, but as long as we reduce them a high level percentage wise.

“There's a lot of fundamental errors we made. We can't afford to do that because Fabio is a very dangerous guy and going to be even more dangerous in this rematch.”

Wardley has earned respect for triggering his rematch clause so quickly and plunging directly back into the fire.

Dubois is no stranger to a challenge, though. Over the past three years, the two-time champion has faced competition that has compared favorably to almost anyone in world boxing.

Ring champion Oleksandr Usyk's intelligence and skill beat him twice, but Dubois has laid waste to the rest of the heavyweight division.

Before his dramatic victory over Wardley, he scored stoppage victories over highly-rated contender Jarrell Miller, current IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic, and former two-time unified titleholder Anthony Joshua.

“Yeah, because he's a complete fighter,” Charles said.

“We've been together just three years now and from the minute I joined forces with Daniel, we haven't had what we call a tune-up fight. They've all been championship fights. We intend on carry on winning, it's all about winning.”

On May 9, Dubois beat Wardley in a front-runner for 2026 Fight of the Year honors. They meet again at London’s O2 Arena on October 17. The fight is available on DAZN pay-per-view or via DAZN’s Ultimate Subscription tier.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fight week!!

[Oiky]

Looking forward to this

[Grilling Machine]

Feels like a fight Fabio could win, arguably should win, but won't. He's massively aware he needs to pace himself better, especially if he scores another knockdown, but he's more emotional than Joyce and you can't switch that off.

[gregregegg]

Feels like a fight Fabio could win, arguably should win, but won't. He's massively aware he needs to pace himself better, especially if he scores another knockdown, but he's more emotional than Joyce and you can't switch that off.

I disagree that he needs to pace himself. I think he needs to just go for it. Try chin DDD within 5 rounds and if not have someone ready with the towel…

But he needs to pick a lane. Can not get stuck halfway.

Best plan is probably pace and look for a big shot now and then, but if you get it, fvck pacing, jump all over him. But I think that’s even to passive, in passive fights jabs win… and ddd has the best big boy jab in the world… (mabey)

[KiwiRider]

Looking forward to this

I wasn't that fussed, until I worked out that after this there really isn't much for the rest of the year. Joshua Fury is probably going to suck as bad as the undercard.
So yeah, this is probably going to be the last good fight of the year- I'm in

[MightyWarrior]

Initially I wasn’t interested in the rematch because it was such a brutal end to the last one.

But Davidson might not have managed to ruin his career just yet, because Fabio hasn’t had a lot of fights, and he may be fresh enough to come back from that disaster; those big punches could be bouncing off DD early and he could get the knockout. I think I’ll probably go for that, with the odds at 4-1.

[Cent0089]

This completely went under the radar for me. This week, looking forward to it

[Ruthless-RKO]

All you need to know!

Main card:

Daniel Dubois v Fabio Wardley - WBO heavyweight title
Louie O'Doherty v Michael Gomez Jr - British and Commonwealth lightweight title
Bakhodir Jalolov v Solomon Dacres - heavyweight
Tony Curtis v Kerim Agius - super-flyweight
Leighton Birchall v Luis Vara Carrillo - featherweight

Prelims:

Fawas Aborode v Rashid Omar - lightweight
Manny Safari v Jake Pollard - featherweight
Adam Olaniyan v TBA - heavyweight
Aaron Noriega v TBA - super-featherweight
Zayn Ahmed v Kasey Bradnum - super-featherweight
Issiah Hamilton-Allen v Jensen Irving - middleweight

Dubois v Wardley fight week schedule
Wednesday: open workouts at 17:00

Thursday: news conference at 12:30

Friday: weigh-in at 18:00

(all times BST)

[Ruthless-RKO]

Despite violent defeat, Wardley doesn't hesitate over Dubois rematch

As Daniel Dubois surged through the gears in Manchester on May 9, Fabio Wardley’s pregnant partner, Charlotte, looked on in horror from ringside.

It looked like the Ipswich man was well on course to retain his WBO heavyweight title, having dropped Dubois twice inside three rounds at Co-op LIVE Arena.

But the challenger regrouped and completely turned the tide. Referee Howard Foster stepped in after 28 seconds of Round 11, but most observers thought it should have been called off far earlier. Wardley’s face was a mess and his granite chin ensured that no matter how much punishment Dubois dished out, he'd still, somehow, remained standing.

Their thriller will go down as one of the fights of the year, but, for Charlotte who was two months pregnant with the couple's second child, it was akin to torture. Now she will watch Wardley attempt to reclaim the title in an immediate rematch with Dubois on Saturday night at London’s O2 Arena.

But this, as Wardley points out, is what they both signed up for. At the end of the fight his face was a mask of crimson, so damaged was his nose. It had ended up looking similarly mangled after his first fight with Frazer Clarke two years earlier, which was another war that experts say “take days off your life.”

“Yes, that’s right, they do,” Wardley says. “But ultimately, I don’t listen to myself. It’s not the aim, or the target, but I am never going to shy away from it. If it’s going to be a war, it will be a war. There’s a level of acceptance that I have agreed with myself. I had that conversation with myself when I started the sport, and I have had it since with my partner.

“She was there for the first one and will be there for this one. As much as she hates it, she loves me too much to not be there. She comes by after to check in and make sure I am still breathing, then she goes back to the hotel and waits for me.”

Once Wardley was wiped clean and patched up he insists he felt no lasting damage from those violent rounds with Dubois. And, while Charlotte slept, he was well enough to tend to their first child, their daughter, who turned a year old a month after that clash with Dubois.

“I was back in my hotel room with my baby,” Wardley said, “bouncing her on my knee, in the early hours of Sunday morning, straight after the fight. She was kicking up, so I got her out of the cot and bounced her. I know it sounds weird, but I was fine. I had a swollen eye and a cut nose and was a bit tired. But overall, I was fine.

“I still had a lump of a baby on my shoulder, and I had to get her to sleep. And nothing is more important than that, so I got that job done.”

By that point, in the early hours of Sunday, May 10, Wardley had already decided that he would trigger the rematch clause in his initial fight contract.

“I decided that immediately,” he said. “In fact, as I was walking back to the dressing room, I sent a part of the team to go and find Frank [Warren] and sort the rematch. What else am I going to do? Run off in another direction?

“I don’t want three easy fights to ‘rebuild my confidence.’ No, get me back in there. I will sort it out myself, I will right the wrongs, I will fix it. I was a victim of my own success. I will be more composed when I knock him down again.”

Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KOs) will become a father of two in December, when their second child is born, yet there is no sense of a softening despite the increasingly brutal nature of his fights. Since that drawn war with Clarke and the one-round rematch victory that followed, he had 10 hard rounds against Justis Huni before he found a knockout punch from nowhere. His clash with Joseph Parker four months later was also not for the faint of heart.

“But Fab, the dad at home, is a different guy to Fabio Wardley the fighter,” he said. “They are different people. They have to be separate. There is a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.

“I love my child dearly, with every bit of my heart. But, in the nicest possible way, she’s no consideration of mine when I am in the middle of the ring. She can’t be a distraction or a factor in my brain. Otherwise, if that’s in the back of my mind, I will not come through tough times and achieve great things.”

For now, that starts with winning back the WBO title from Dubois to become a two-time world heavyweight champion. Given his well-known journey from the white-collar scene, that will be an incredible achievement in itself.

But The Ring’s No. 6 contender for Oleksandr Usyk’s championship has plans well beyond that. He did not watch his first fight with Dubois until a few weeks later. He also allowed Charlotte to go to bed first so she did not have to relive any of it.

As he watched the rounds tick by, Wardley grew more convinced that he has what it takes to avenge his only loss.

“I had to sit there on my own and take it all in,” he said. “I felt his power, I just wasn’t that bothered by it. It was solid but nothing I couldn’t deal with. I wasn’t happy with the stoppage. I was still on my feet and throwing my hands. I can understand it, but I wasn’t happy with it. We can all be plain and honest and say that the room for growth, between the pair of us, is exponentially in my favor.

“That’s not to discredit Daniel. He’s a great fighter and he has been for a long time. But, across multiple fights, I have shown room for change, growth and adjustment. I did not work and fight this hard to win the title, lose it and then chill out. Throw me back in. I used to start slow, but I don’t anymore. I have at least changed that.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Dubois has six-fight plan to become undisputed champ

Daniel Dubois says Saturday’s rematch with Fabio Wardley is the first of his six-fight plan for world domination.

Dubois (23-3, 22 KOs) will put his WBO heavyweight title on the line against Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KOs) at London’s O2 Arena, just five months after beating him for it May 9 in Manchester.

Now Dubois has explained that their second clash, the result of an immediate rematch clause in their contract, will kick off his run toward becoming undisputed heavyweight champion.

“I’m on a journey towards undisputed and I’ve got six fights,” Dubois told a group of reporters. “That’s what is in my head right now, within six fights. I’m not thinking about retirement, but it’s six big fights and that’s what I’ve got. You need goals in boxing and that’s what I’ve got.”

Oleksandr Usyk, who has beaten him twice, remains Ring champion and has suggested that he will fight just once more.

Dubois is The Ring’s No. 1 contender for Usyk’s crown. Agit Kabayel, The Ring’s No. 2 contender, is WBC champion. Filip Hrgovic, No. 4 in The Ring top 10, is the IBF champion by virtue of his shock victory over rising star Moses Itauma, who slipped to eighth after a ninth-round TKO defeat August 29 at O2 Arena.

The WBA “super” title will be claimed by either Tyson Fury, ranked No. 3 by The Ring, or Anthony Joshua, who is not ranked inside the top 10, when they meet December 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Russia’s Murat Gassiev owns the WBA “regular” title.

When asked to outline what route he would like to take toward undisputed, Dubois said, “It’s all of these guys. There’s no specific names, but whoever has the belts.

“There’s no number ones floating about. There’s Kabayel, Hrgovic now, Gassiev, just usual names floating about. For me, I see six big fights.”

Dubois is in the midst of his second world title reign. The London native was upgraded from interim to full champion by the IBF in June 2024. He defended that title with a stunning knockout of Joshua three months later, but surrendered it when Usyk knocked him out again in July 2025 at Wembley Stadium.

“It has felt good, but it’s time to get it underway now,” Dubois said of his second championship run. “It’s quiet, sitting down, waiting on people to make up their mind on what they’re going to do, so I’m glad I've got a fight. I don’t like to just be sitting about. I need goals in life, goals in my boxing career, so now I know what direction my head is.

“I’m glad he’s taken it now. I’ve refreshed myself. I’ve got the belt now and the nerves I felt going into the first fight are gone and I’m feeling ready for it.”

Those nerves might help explain why Wardley managed to knock Dubois down within the first 10 seconds with the first meaningful shot that landed. There were echoes of his memorable three-round fight with Kevin Lerena in December 2022, when he touched down three times in the opener before coming back to win via stoppage.

“He will be taking heart from catching me early, but this time round I’ve got something for him,” Dubois said. “It was just something I had to go through, a test, and shaking off the cobwebs for me. That’s it. No more slow starting. I’ll get a good warmup and come out firing.”

Despite the early knockdown, and a second one which followed in the third round, Dubois roared back to stop Wardley on his feet in the 11th. The former champion from Ipswich showed scarcely believable heart to stay standing throughout the bout and his corner received criticism for not pulling him out far sooner.
Dubois, however, sees it slightly differently.

“I just wish I was more clinical and took him out earlier than that,” he said. “I wish I had jumped on him sooner. I wish I’d seen the opening, but now I’ve got the opportunity to put it right. It was a good fight to shake off the cobwebs for me and I got a few rounds. Now I want to get him quicker, get all of this out of the way and move on.”

[bmw hector]

Wardley might be about to get ran over again, but he seems to be finding Dubois' tough guy talk a bit amusing.

[Kilburn]

Tough ask for Wardley, to turn the tables after a brutal loss that happened only 5 months ago.

Sounds like he’s planning to be a composed, sharp shooter this time, which would make sense as an approach to fighting Dubois.

Rather him than me though.

[golden_labrador]

Wardley might be about to get ran over again, but he seems to be finding Dubois' tough guy talk a bit amusing.

Dubois in lifts or Wardley lost height after the bashing he got last time

[golden_labrador]

Dubois is most vulnerable in the first round or two with nerves it seems. once he settles it's difficult (unless you're Usyk or pre-Zhang Joyce).

[JamesPhilips]

A lot of comments on Wardley’s interviews saying he sounds a bit punchy already.

[keithmoonhangover]

A lot of comments on Wardley’s interviews saying he sounds a bit punchy already.

I think the first fight will have taken a hell of a lot out of him. There's no way he'll be able to take that many punches this time.

[tony1234]

All you need to know!

Main card:

Daniel Dubois v Fabio Wardley - WBO heavyweight title
Louie O'Doherty v Michael Gomez Jr - British and Commonwealth lightweight title
Bakhodir Jalolov v Solomon Dacres - heavyweight
Tony Curtis v Kerim Agius - super-flyweight
Leighton Birchall v Luis Vara Carrillo - featherweight

Prelims:

Fawas Aborode v Rashid Omar - lightweight
Manny Safari v Jake Pollard - featherweight
Adam Olaniyan v TBA - heavyweight
Aaron Noriega v TBA - super-featherweight
Zayn Ahmed v Kasey Bradnum - super-featherweight
Issiah Hamilton-Allen v Jensen Irving - middleweight

Dubois v Wardley fight week schedule
Wednesday: open workouts at 17:00

Thursday: news conference at 12:30

Friday: weigh-in at 18:00

(all times BST)

Surprised Olaniyan not on the main card. Rather see him than Curtis

[Oiky]

Looking forward to this

I wasn't that fussed, until I worked out that after this there really isn't much for the rest of the year. Joshua Fury is probably going to suck as bad as the undercard.
So yeah, this is probably going to be the last good fight of the year- I'm in

Yeh its slim pickings after this, and this will likely be another bloodbath

[keithmoonhangover]

Looking forward to this

I wasn't that fussed, until I worked out that after this there really isn't much for the rest of the year. Joshua Fury is probably going to suck as bad as the undercard.
So yeah, this is probably going to be the last good fight of the year- I'm in

Yeh its slim pickings after this, and this will likely be another bloodbath

Dalton Smith? Bivol-Call Smith?

[Kilburn]

I like Wardley but he almost sounds like like a contestant on Deal or no Deal, trying to provide reasoning for his choice to have this rematch - specifically the way he keeps referring to his success in the rematch with Clarke.

I hope for Fabio’s sake there is a genuine plan to avoid shipping punishment that doesn’t solely rely on an early KO victory.

I’m excited for the fight but I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to see a repeat of last time.

[veriton]

It's on PPV and I'm not paying when I already have a subscription so I'll miss it.

In a way I'm pleased. There shouldn’t be another fight between these two after what happened last time.

It crossed the line for me. It takes a lot but that was too far.

[JC]

It's on PPV and I'm not paying when I already have a subscription so I'll miss it.

In a way I'm pleased. There shouldn’t be another fight between these two after what happened last time.

It crossed the line for me. It takes a lot but that was too far.

I feel similar. I was really looking forward to the first fight expecting a dramatic shoot out. But it turned out to be uncomfortable viewing. Careful what you wish for I suppose.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Hard to see anything but a terrible beating for Wardley.