Daniel Dubois has warned Fabio Wardley he is in for the daddy of all beatings – because he punches like a baby.
Dubois, 32, was floored twice inside the opening three rounds by his British rival during their heavyweight slugfest in May. But the challenger roared back to pummel Wardley from pillar to post and leave him battered and bruised. The brutal brawl was ultimately stopped in the penultimate round as the champion's reign came to a premature end.
Dubois: 'He punches like a baby'
The pair will clash again this weekend in London – and Dubois, 29, has no fears about hitting the deck again.
“He doesn't have no power,” he said. “He punches like a baby. The knockdowns were early doors and I didn't feel them. You just have to get up and keep fighting, you just plough through it.
“My mentality was to plough through and chip away and I did that. He doesn't punch, so I'm just going to land my punches and bring the pain. I'm going to bash him up easily; I've learned what I've needed to learn from the first fight and I'm just ready to put it on him. He's not good enough to adapt, so he'll do the same thing as he did in the first fight.
Wardley's rise and response
“I know what I'm going to do to him will be a lot worse than the first fight. I can't wait to get in there. I'm going to break him down and beat him up, like I'm his daddy. I'm going to smash him up and take away whatever thoughts he has in his head. I'm going to punch it out of his head and move on.”
Wardley completed his incredible journey from the unlicensed white-collar scene to become world champion last year. He was crowned when Oleksandr Usyk gave up his WBO title instead of putting it on the line against the Ipswich man. Wardley could have picked a soft-touch for his first defence but instead chose the hard-hitting Dubois. And having knocked out 19 of his 21 opponents to date, Wardley rubbished his rival's claim.
“I need to find out who's giving him these lines,” he said. “I think he needs to pay attention to what he says because the other day he said I was the hardest puncher he’s ever been in the ring with. So I think he just needs to remember when he answers these questions there is a camera in his face and the research can be done.
“If I don't hit that hard, why did he go down twice? For a laugh? Did he need a rest? But, again, it’s fight week and with Daniel you get a different personality, a different persona comes out. It would be a wonder for me to step in to his mind and see what's going on in there. We all know and saw what happened. I didn’t even fully connect and he hit the ground twice, so it’s a lot of waffle.”
