Ben Davison has come under fire in recent weeks after suffering his third heavyweight world title defeat of the year as a trainer. Now, the 33-year-old trainer has broken his silence and responded to those who questioned the timing of his intervention when Fabio Wardley lost to Daniel Dubois back in May.
Before this year, Davison had been involved in two heavyweight world title affairs, guiding Tyson Fury to a draw in his iconic initial clash with Deontay Wilder in 2018 and being in the corner for Anthony Joshua’s catastrophic bid for Dubois’ IBF title back in 2024.
Earlier this year, Davison was criticised for Wardley’s loss to Dubois, as the Ipswich fan-favourite absorbed an unsettling amount of punishment before the referee and Davison simultaneously called it off in round 11.
Speaking to Playbook Boxing, Davison admitted that, upon reflection, he allowed the first fight between Wardley and Dubois to go on too long.
“Yeah, potentially it could have been [stopped sooner], I agree. I think that, looking back, it probably could have been stopped a couple of rounds earlier, yeah.
“Would he be happy with that? I mean he wasn’t happy that it got stopped when it got stopped but I am man enough to turn around and say that, yes, maybe I could’ve stopped that one earlier, we all make mistakes.”
Since that initial encounter, Davison been in the corner for Moses Itauma’s shock defeat to Filip Hrgovic, as well as in the one-sided Dubois-Wardley rematch this month – which many have put down to Wardley’s insufficient recovery time following their brutal first encounter.
On the criticism in general, Davison said:
“We’ve done, I think, 19 world title fights and lost five. One of them was Leigh Wood against Lara, which very quickly got turned around. Then there were the two fights with Fabio and Dubois.
“But I feel like, when you actually put context to it, Fabio’s achieved something that’s never been done before. He’s broken records. Someone with zero amateur fights, four white-collar fights, becomes heavyweight champion, and essentially he’s lost in the Champions League, so to speak.
“People don’t talk about the victories, like the Joe Parker one, where he should never have won that fight – on paper, I’m talking about.
“Then Moses versus Filip Hrgovic is the other one. Again, a little bit of context on that. If I was to say the names Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Floyd Patterson, automatically people would say you can’t put Moses in that category. But he was putting himself in that category with that fight.”
Davison will have the chance to make it sixth time lucky when he trains Anthony Joshua for his blockbuster clash with Tyson Fury on Friday, December 11, as the vacant WBA (Super) heavyweight world title will be up for grabs.
