Fabio Wardley names three fights he rejected before pivoting to Daniel Dubois
Fabio Wardley picked Daniel Dubois out of four options for his first WBO world heavyweight title defence.
Wardley faces Dubois on May 9 in his first fight since being elevated to full world champion, having won the interim WBO strap by dramatically stopping Joseph Parker at London’s O2 Arena in October.
Both Wardley and Parker were in negotiations with undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk ahead of the fight, with the winner expecting to face the Ukrainian in a four-belt shootout.
But Usyk chose to vacate the red and gold strap, leaving Wardley ‘hugely disappointed.’
The 31-year-old felt like he was ‘robbed’ of his crowning moment, as he wasn’t able to hear his name announced as the full champion in the ring.
The Ipswich star will, however, get the chance to do so when he faces former IBF heavyweight world champion Dubois in Manchester.
Wardley was originally in ‘strong’ talks to make his first defence against Derek Chisora, who has since opted to fight Deontay Wilder.
He also had brief chats with Tyson Fury‘s camp, with ‘The Gypsy King’ now set to end his retirement against Arslanbek Makhmudov, before being offered a four-man list.
“The Chisora one was a strong conversation for a while, but Chisora will be Chisora,” Wardley told members of the media, including talkSPORT.com, on Wednesday when asked how he settled on Dubois.
Wardley was in London for his first press conference with Dubois, where the latter refused a fist pump from the champion after facing off.
“What [Chisora] wanted, how we wanted it to look, etc., etc., it just wasn’t feasible, wasn’t going together — so we pivoted off that,” he continued.
“The Fury one was very nothing. The long short bit, there wasn’t a lot in that.
“It was me with an open invitation, really saying, ‘Look, if you want to have it, I’ll have it. It’s no problem at all. Give me a shout, we’ll do it.’
“But he said he wants a warm-up, wants to do all of that, so fine, that really didn’t go past or even reach any sort of serious conversation.
“And then there was a list of fighters offered and I picked Daniel, I said, ‘Yeah, cool, I’ll take him.”
Wardley then revealed Dubois, 28, was offered to him alongside three other heavyweight boxing stars.
The list comprised Dubois’ former foe Filip Hrgovic, American Jared Anderson, and ‘The Albanian Eagle’ Nelson Hysa.
So why did Wardley eventually settle on Dubois?
Wardley explains why Dubois stood out from the rest
“I picked him because he’s the most dangerous one,” Wardley said.
“I look at it and think, ‘Where am I going to get the most credit? What’s the best fight?’
“I also look at it from a fan perspective. Wardley vs Dubois – you just put that on a bit of paper, and you think, ‘How’s that going to look? Are people going to be excited about that?’
“People will tune in just to watch that and they’re the type of fights I want and fights I want to be associated with.
“I want people to know that Fabio Wardley is having a fight it’s not a gimme, it’s not a soft touch, it’s not something easy.
“We know Fabio, we know he likes to get stuck in, we know he’s value for money, we know he’s going to put on a good show and it’s going to be against someone decent.”
Wardley vs Dubois is being billed as ‘Don’t Blink’ — a fitting description considering both men share a 95 per cent knockout ratio.
Dubois has lost just three times (Usyk twice and Joe Joyce) in his 25-fight career, while Wardley is undefeated in 21 fights, with his only setback a draw against Frazer Clarke in March 2024.
The battle of the British heavyweight giants takes place at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on May 9.
Wardley told talkSPORT he plans to take advantage of Dubois’ lack of creativity in terms of punch output when the pair come face-to-face.
Dubois, on the other hand, is backing the thunder in his hands to knock Wardley out cold for the first time in his career.
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