The winner of May’s thriller between heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley and challenger Daniel Dubois could well be targeted by a returning Tyson Fury.
Wardley will mark the first defence of his WBO title at the Co-op Live Arena, having become champion in November when the belt was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ipswich man, who stopped Justis Huni and Joseph Parker in 2025, has said he wants a proper first outing as champion to prove to fans he has earned the belt – he had wanted to fight Usyk for it, but the Ukrainian did not share that interest.
As for Dubois, he has managed to get the Ukrainian in the ring, twice, losing on both occasions. Most recently, he was stopped inside five rounds at Wembley Stadium, losing his own world title. This shot at Wardley’s belt in his first fight back represents both an excellent opportunity and a dangerous career move.
Watching on from ringside will be Fury, who ends a year-long retirement in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov. He has made it clear he will target the winner, however can’t split them when predicting who that will be.
Speaking on the FurociTV YouTube channel, ‘The Gypsy King’ praised the matchmaking, ultimately recognising the fight as a pick ’em with a high chance of ending early in either man’s favour, giving Dubois a 50% chance of becoming a two-time champ.
“I think Wardley’s a good fighter and I think the Daniel Dubois fight is a very good fight. Great fight for British boxing – two British heavyweights knocking lumps off each other. These are two big punchers. Whoever lands first with the big shot will win.”
“These guys are 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5 wrecking machines. Look how they’re built – they’re built like Greek gods carved out of stone. They’re training, young, ambitious … They’re both in their prime, both fresh, both young – it’s a real fight, it’s not like one is past it and one isn’t. I think the fans are the real winners here. They get to see a 50/50 fight between two big heavyweights for the world title.”
Fans, analysts and fighters are split on the contest. While Dubois may well be the hardest puncher Wardley has faced, he has also been stopped on three occasions himself – something the gritty and courageous champion is well known to take advantage of. All of the above makes it one of the best heavyweight fights of the year so far, and perhaps entire.
