Dubois retains WBO heavyweight title with brutal second-round stoppage of Wardley

LONDON (AP):

Daniel Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight title with a brutal second-round stoppage of Fabio Wardley yesterday as their highly anticipated rematch at the O2 Arena in London ended in a relentless assault from the champion.

There were 39 seconds remaining in the round when referee Steve Gray waved off the contest at the same moment Wardley’s trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel.

Dubois had already imposed himself in the opening round, needing only 17 seconds to send fellow Briton Wardley to the canvas with a crushing overhand right.

Resuming their rivalry just five months after their first slugfest, Dubois (24-3, 23 KOs) launched an all-out attack from the opening bell and was rewarded with a devastating victory that served notice to the rest of the heavyweight division.

“It was my time and it’s my era. I had bad intentions from the beginning,” Dubois told Britain’s Press Association. “We just had to go out there and show that we mean business, which is what we did.”

Dubois had bloodied Wardley in an 11th-round stoppage victory in May to become a two-time heavyweight champion. Although Wardley dropped the former IBF champion just seconds into that contest in Manchester, he never looked capable of seriously troubling Dubois in yesterday’s rematch.

It was the second professional defeat of Wardley’s career, leaving him with a record of 20-2-1 and 19 knockouts.

“It’s never fun to lose, but it is what it is. The game is the game,” Wardley said. “I have always thrown myself in with the best competitors out there – the best in the business, the biggest, hardest, meanest guys around – so there’s no shame in a loss when you’re testing yourself against the best.”