Derek Chisora was at ringside to take in the fierce showdown between Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley. After being knocked down twice in the early rounds, Dubois rallied to stop Wardley in the 11th round of a dramatic heavyweight title fight at Co-Op Live in Manchester, claiming the WBO belt.
Several prominent figures from the boxing world were present for the clash, including Chisora, who was a top contender in the division before his recent retirement.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Chisora praised Dubois for his resilience. “Daniel got dropped in the first round and I said, ‘He’s winning the fight.’ Everyone around me looked at me like, ‘What?’ Guess what he did? He won the damn fight. He bit down on his gumshield and kept going… Daniel boxed brilliantly. He was taking hits, but there was no quit in his eyes.”
While Chisora was highly complimentary of Dubois, he was far less generous toward Wardley, pointing out several errors in his performance. “Fabio wasn’t ready for this level of boxing. No jab, nothing. He was swinging for power shots the whole time. It was like he didn’t train—too busy commentating. Little so-and-so. He was supposed to be in the gym. How many jabs did Fabio throw? He didn’t throw any jabs. He didn’t do anything we’ve seen from him before. He should have been working his jab, but he wasn’t.”
After Dubois’ dramatic victory, it was confirmed that the heavyweight had signed a rematch clause with Wardley. Given that Wardley will likely need significant time to recover from the defeat, many are now calling for Dubois to defend his title against Moses Itauma instead.
