Daniel Dubois brutally stops Fabio Wardley to retain WBO world heavyweight title in rematch

Daniel Dubois retained his WBO world heavyweight title with a brutal second-round stoppage of Fabio Wardley as their fight of the year rematch at The O2 Arena ended in a furious assault from the champion.

There were 39 seconds of the round left when referee Steve Gray waved the off the contest at the same time as the towel was thrown into the ring by Wardley’s trainer Ben Davison.

Resuming hostilities just five months after their first encounter, Dubois launched an all-out assault from the first bell and was rewarded with a destructive victory that issued a statement to his rivals in the division.

The Londoner’s first defence of the title he seized from Wardley in May positions him for unification fights as well as the possibility of facing the winner of Tyson Fury’s bout against Anthony Joshua on December 11.

Knockout blow: Daniel Dubois

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And on this evidence he will be favourite to unify the heavyweight belts following a display of ferocious punching power that left Wardley in survival mode right from the start.

Wardley had vowed to make the adjustments needed to avenge the only defeat of his career, but instead the former white-collar boxer was outclassed as his lack of experience caught up with him.

Dubois had oozed confidence all week and he wasted no time marching into the ring, dispensing with the stage theatrics to get the fight started as soon as possible.