Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in second round to retain WBO title

Daniel Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight title with a second-round stoppage of Fabio Wardley at London's O2 Arena, BBC Sport reported. The champion dropped his challenger after just 17 seconds and kept him under pressure until trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel during the following round, ending the British rivals' second meeting in five months.

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The opening knockdown came when Dubois forced Wardley towards a corner and connected with a straight right. Wardley got through the first round, but another attack close to the bell left him struggling. According to the BBC's ringside account, Davison was already standing with a towel ready before his fighter made it back to the corner.

Dubois resumed his attack in the second round, again trapping Wardley in a corner and landing a succession of punches. Davison then intervened to bring the contest to an end. The result gave the 29-year-old champion his 24th professional victory, with 23 of those wins coming by knockout, against three defeats. Wardley, 31, suffered his second loss in 23 professional appearances.

The rematch followed a much longer and more competitive first fight in Manchester in May. On that occasion, Dubois recovered from two knockdowns to stop Wardley in the 11th round and take his title. Their return contest reversed the early pattern of that bout: this time it was Wardley who went down almost immediately, while Dubois maintained control through to the stoppage in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,000.

Attention afterwards turned to a possible meeting with IBF champion Filip Hrgovic, who entered the ring following the fight. BBC Sport reported that both fighters were interested in a rematch, having previously met in June 2024 when Dubois won by stoppage. Promoter Frank Warren, however, wants Hrgovic to make his first title defence in Croatia before pursuing a unification contest.

Dubois said afterwards that he wanted major fights and was willing to face whoever came next. Wardley defended his decision to keep testing himself against leading opposition. The former recruitment consultant, who turned professional in 2017 after four white-collar bouts, had chosen an immediate rematch following his May defeat. He now has two successive losses to the same opponent, while Dubois leaves London still holding the WBO belt.