Fabio Wardley is keen to reverse his loss against Daniel Dubois and Barry McGuigan has weighed in on whether or not he should take the rematch.
Wardley was unbeaten going into the first defence of the WBO title he was awarded after beating Joseph Parker. He also had good momentum following that late KO win over the New Zealander, having done the same to Justis Huni in the fight previous.
He started the contest well and had ‘DDD’ down early, but then went looking for big right hands and slowly but surely got beaten up by Dubois and left with a bloodied nose and barely able to stand up.
The referee stopped the fight at the start of the 11th round, which meant Dubois became a two-time world champion.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, McGuigan was asked if Wardley was right to trigger the immediate rematch.
“I don’t think he is. I think he should have had another warm-up fight and given himself a bit of time to recover. I can understand why he would trigger the automatic rematch but it’s a very dangerous scenario; he took a tremendous beating in the last fight.
“I don’t like to see the way he finished the fight and the amount of punishment he took. He should have either had a longer period of rest and allowed Dubois to defend again, but then of course he could have got beate … I don’t think the result will change, I think it will be the same. I fancy Dubois in the second fight too.”
Dubois’s promoter Frank Warren has said Dubois will be back out in November to defend his crown, which means 31-year-old Wardley has sufficient time to get fit and work on a different game plan, second time around.
