Tony Bellew has delivered his take on Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois, predicting that one man will emerge from their “brutal fight” with a mid-to-late rounds stoppage victory.
The two destructive punchers are gearing up to collide at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena, headlining a Queensberry promotions card on May 9.
Entering their clash as the defending WBO world champion, Wardley, who comes off a stunning 11th-round finish over Joseph Parker, has been made a slight favourite over his domestic rival.
Against Parker, the Ipswich man showed tremendous character to overcome several spells of adversity, before ultimately claiming the New Zealander’s WBO ‘interim’ title last October.
Since then, the 31-year-old has been elevated from ‘interim’ to full heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk decided to vacate his title, rather than face his mandatory challenger.
Dubois, meanwhile, has not fought since his fifth-round stoppage defeat to Usyk last July, back when he was relieved of his IBF world title in emphatic fashion.
Prior to that, though, ‘Dynamite’ had amassed a strong run of stoppages against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua, proving that he is capable of competing at world-class level.
But while both Dubois and Wardley possess tremendous punching power – as evidenced by their 95% knockout-to-win ratios – it is actually Wardley who Bellew believes to be the more complete package.
Speaking with Fightlens, the former world cruiserweight champion highlighted Wardley’s greater skillset as being more significant than Dubois’ championship experience.
“It’s a really good fight; I really like it. I edge towards Fabio Wardley by stoppage.
“I think it’ll be a brutal fight. I think Fabio has to be wary early doors – he cannot be gung-ho. I don’t think Fabio Wardley should be getting into any exchanges in the first two rounds.
“I think he should be putting Daniel Dubois on a jab, using his lateral movement. People are saying Daniel Dubois’ a better boxer than Fabio Wardley. No he is not.
“He doesn’t have a bigger arsenal than Fabio Wardley. I just think Fabio has more strings to his bow.”
While Wardley has repeatedly been accused of lacking any real technical prowess, it is ultimately his unorthodox movement that makes him such an elusive target.
