Boxing
Wardley claims it's 'stupid' to think he can't floor Dubois again
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Fabio Wardley insists he will settle the score with Daniel Dubois when they run it back at London’s O2 Arena on October 17.
The Ipswich heavy hitter lost the WBO world heavyweight title and his undefeated record after being stopped by Dubois in Manchester earlier this year.
But it could have been a different story had he capitalised on flooring the Londoner inside the opening 10 seconds, before repeating the trick in the third round.
Dubois, who turns 29 on Sunday, battled back during a brutal encounter and unleashed a barrage of big shots in the 11th to force referee Howard Foster to wave off the contest.
Relive the heavyweight epic between Wardley and Dubois
With the rematch signed and sealed, Wardley has his sights set firmly on revenge — and believes he can make it an early night.
“Yeah, first quarter,” he told DAZN News during an exclusive interview. “Look, I had him in the first fight.
“I had him down twice in the first three rounds. If I'd have capitalised on those moments, we could be having a very different conversation. To say I can't do that again is just stupid.”
Many onlookers claimed Wardley’s corner should have pulled their man out of the firing line before Foster’s intervention.
But he insists trainer Ben Davison made the right call by allowing him to box on.
Wardley, 31, added: “I still had a plan in my head of what I was trying to do, it's just the plan had heavily changed.
“But I was still there, I was still thinking, I was still going about things in the right way. They just didn't materialise how I had envisioned.”
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch event for their second fight, both fighters claimed they had mistakes to put right before locking horns again.
But Wardley played down talk of Dubois attributing the early knockdowns in May to a bad bout of nerves.
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He said: “Being nervous going into a fight isn't the worst thing in the world.
“He was almost making it sound like it was a bad thing when it actually makes you switch on more, makes you focus through camp. It makes you pay attention a lot more.
“Now all of a sudden he feels like he's already got my number, so that's ticked off. He's got the belt, so that's ticked off. He's already beaten me once, so that's ticked off.
“Maybe coming into the rematch he's too relaxed.”
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