Fabio Wardley was stopped by Daniel Dubois while making the first defence of his world title, and Carl Froch has weighed in on whether he should take the rematch.
Wardley’s rise has been a great story over the last couple of years. The Ipswich fighter has managed to win a WBO world title despite having no amateur background. He turned professional after a handful of white-collar fights and did well to get KO wins over the likes of Justis Huni and Joseph Parker.
However, his lack of amateur grounding came to the fore during the fight with Dubois because, despite having the former IBF ruler down twice in the first three rounds, he grew ever more wild with his punches and was unable to keep away from ‘DDD’s stiff jab and solid right hands the longer the fight went on.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Froch suggested Wardley should stay away from a rematch.
“It’s just where does he go next after this? There is a rematch clause and Frank Warren will probably want a rematch cause that was a great fight, it was watchable, it was great television. Do I want to see Fabio Wardley in with Daniel Dubois again? I don’t know if I do.
“He took a lot of punishment. His face was covered in claret. His nose looked like it was broken and split open again. If he’d have shouted ‘Adrian’ at the end of that it would have been a full Rocky moment because that was a Rocky story fight.
“He done so well but he took too much punishment. In a rematch with Daniel Dubois, I thought it would be the same. I think Dubois would probably make even easier work of it.”
Wardley showed huge heart and a great chin, but will need plenty of time to recover from such a brutal fight, while Dubois has now fully shed all notions of being a quitter and will look to establish himself as a long-reigning champion.
