Towel in round two: Dubois retains WBO title against Wardley
Daniel Dubois won his rematch with Fabio Wardley in London convincingly. Wardley was dropped after 17 seconds and his corner threw in the towel in round two.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Heavyweight Daniel Dubois made a successful first defence of his WBO world title at London's O2 Arena, flooring Fabio Wardley with a right hand just 17 seconds in, the first knockdown of Wardley's professional career. Trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel at 2:21 of the second round.
"It was my time, in my era," Dubois said. Wardley conceded he had not executed his game plan, calling the loss "entirely down to me". In their first fight in Manchester five months ago, Wardley dropped Dubois twice but was stopped in the 11th round.
Dubois improved to 24-3, Wardley fell to 20-2-1. Dubois wants a rematch with new IBF champion Filip Hrgovic, who asked at ringside: "So he's ready to fight me in March, right?"