Dubois stops Wardley in round two to retain WBO heavyweight title in London

Early knockdown sets the pace

Daniel Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight title on Saturday, 17 October 2026, stopping Fabio Wardley in the second round at London's O2 Arena. A right hand put the challenger on the canvas within the first 20 seconds, although sources give slightly different timings, between 15 and 20 seconds. It was the first time Wardley had touched the canvas in his professional career. He got up but was pinned against the ropes in the closing seconds of the round, absorbing heavy punches while his trainer, Ben Davison, came close to throwing in the towel. Wardley came out for the second round with wild right hands, but Dubois swerved most of them and kept landing jabs and right hands of his own.

The stoppage in round two

With 40 seconds left in the second round, Davison sent the towel into the ring as Dubois landed clubbing rights and uppercuts on a cornered Wardley. Referee Steve Gray then waved the fight off. Wardley, 31, suffered the second defeat of his 23-fight professional career, while Dubois, 29, improved to 24 wins, 23 of them by knockout, with three defeats. Speaking to DAZN's ringside reporter after the bout, Dubois said:

Fabio is a great warrior, but it was my time, my era.

He also said he had gone into the rematch with bad intentions from the first bell, having been on the back foot in May.

A rematch built on the first fight

The May meeting at Manchester's Co-op Live Arena was a see-saw contest, with Wardley's speed and power giving him an early edge before Dubois' jab took over. Wardley had floored Dubois twice in that fight, and Dubois stopped him late on, leaving Wardley with a smashed nose and a badly swollen right eye. Davison faced criticism for not throwing in the towel earlier in that bout. Wardley asked promoter Frank Warren for an immediate rematch in his dressing room, and argued that he was better placed than Dubois to make adjustments after the first fight.

Hrgovic and the next target

Filip Hrgovic, the IBF champion, watched from ringside and was invited into the ring by Queensberry promoter Frank Warren after the fight. Hrgovic, who beat Moses Itauma in August, challenged Dubois to fight him in March. Dubois answered that he wanted a rematch with Hrgovic and said he was looking for big fights and big money. The two last met in 2018 in Riyadh, when Dubois stopped Hrgovic in the eighth round, handing him the only defeat of his 22-fight career. Dubois has been eyeing a unification fight, although he did not name an opponent beyond saying he would take whoever is next in line.

Towel dispute on the undercard

The undercard also produced a controversy when referee Amy Pu refused two attempts by Dan Garber's corner to stop his fight. Garber, 41, was in his seventh bout of 2026 against Adam Olaniyan, 20, a rising Irish fighter who had won at Croke Park in September 2026. Garber was knocked down early in the second round, and his corner threw in the towel while he was trying to rise at a count of eight. Pu, the first woman to become a professional boxing referee in the UK, kicked the towel out and let the bout continue, and Olaniyan floored Garber again moments later. When Garber's corner threw the towel in a second time, Pu waved the bout off herself, after which Garber received oxygen ringside and drew online criticism of her decision to let the fight go on. Under British Boxing Board of Control regulations, a towel does not automatically end a bout. Olaniyan improved to 5-0, while Garber is now 14-10.