FABIO WARDLEY has been urged to utilise the full “Art of War” and defeat Daniel Dubois with mind games before they duke it out in their domestic dust-up.
The pair, 31 and 28 respectively, will collide in an eagerly anticipated Manchester melee on Saturday night.
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Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois collide in a tasty domestic dust-up on Saturday night Credit: PA
Wardley will make his first defence of the WBO heavyweight title in the Manchester melee Credit: PA
Wardley will bid to make the first defence of his WBO heavyweight strap since being given full champion status following Oleksandr Usyk‘s vacating of the belt last November.
The East Anglia assassin knows a thing or two about Dubois have sparred him several years back, and is confident of dashing his dream of becoming a two-time heavyweight champion.
One man who will be keeping a close eye on the Manny madness is burgeoning heavyweight contender Richard Riakporhe.
And he reckons Wardley will drastically increase his chances of a successful title defence if he ramps up the trash talk in the next few days.
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During the latest episode of JattvibeSport’s No Glove Lost, he said: “There’s always gonna be war. There’s war from the get-go.
“Like I’m talking about from the press conferences, everything. It starts from there.
“But if you don’t know, you don’t know. But the fighters will know.
“If Fabio doesn’t say certain things to Daniel, if he doesn’t try to tap into his head, is he missing a trick in, in, in this fight week? 100 per cent.
Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois – all the info
Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois clash in a huge Queensbury Promotions fight THIS SATURDAY!
Undefeated Fabio Wardley puts his WBO heavyweight belt on the line against Daniel Dubois on Saturday, May 9, at the Co-Op Arena – live on DAZN PPV.
Wardley is making the first defence of his title and will face his toughest test yet in the form of heavy hitting former IBF world champ Dubois.
‘Dynamite’ was knocked out in his last fight to Oleksandr Usyk, but has vowed Wardley is the ‘perfect’ opponent for his next fight.
The all-English bout promises to send shockwaves through the division which is dominated elsewhere by Oleksandr Usyk.
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Former IBF king Daniel Dubois hasn’t really engaged in any mental warfare Credit: PA
“I feel he can make the fight easier for himself. The art of war, the true art of war, is to win a fight without fighting.
“If you don’t understand what that means, you’re never gonna understand. That’s it.”
Dubois has never been one to get involved in fiery back-and-forths with his opponents at press conferences.
In fact, he often tunes out their noise and lets them do all the talking.
Some have interpreted his decision not to engage in the verbal argy-bargy as a calculated one so as not to burn precious energy before fight night.
But Riakporhe has a different take away from Dubois’ unwillingness to engage in verbal warfare.
He continued: “One thing that I’ve noticed is, he looks like he don’t care and he’s in his own world, in his mind.
Fabio Wardley claimed the WBO heavyweight title with an 11th-round stoppage of Joseph Parker Credit: GETTY
Daniel Dubois suffered a fifth-round KO defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last July Credit: GETTY
“But one thing that I’ve seen as well from the press [conference] [and] the face-to-face that they did, [is that] he seems uncomfortable talking.
“You know, the longer you watch it, you can see it.
“Everybody’s saying in the comments, the more he has to talk, the more.
“He’s just uncomfortable.
“So why is he getting uncomfortable if he doesn’t care that much?”
Wardley claimed the interim WBO strap last October with a controversial stoppage of former titleholder Joseph Parker at The O2 Arena.
Dubois, meanwhile, will enter the bout on the back of a crushing fifth-round KO defeat to Usyk in their undisputed straightener last July.
The Home of Boxing in 2026
There’s a massive year of boxing ahead!
It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year of action inside the boxing ring.
Oleksandr Usyk takes on the king of kickboxing Rico Verhoeven and Fabio Wardley will defend his newly won heavyweight crown against fellow Brit Daniel Dubois.
Anthony Joshua returns to the ring in July to face Kristian Prenga ahead of a potential blockbuster bout against Tyson Fury later in the year.
Canelo Alvarez will be hoping to make a comeback after his defeat to Terence Crawford, while Dave Allen will also be looking to get back to winning ways against Filip Hrgovic.
A whole bunch of British stars could also take a leap into superstardom, with the likes of Moses Itauma, Hamzah Sheeraz and Adam Azim ready to join the very top of the sport.
Here’s all the big fights coming up…
May
Sat 9 – Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois – WBO title – DAZN PPV
Sat 16 – Dave Allen vs Filip Hrgovic – DAZN
Sat 23 – Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven – WBC title – DAZN
June
Sat 6 – Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello – WBC super lightweight title – DAZN
Sat 13 – Tommy Fury vs Eddie Hall – DAZN
Sat 20 – Ryan Garner vs Michael Magnesi – DAZN
Sat 27 – Xander Zayas vs Jaron Ennis – DAZN
July
Sat 25 – Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga – DAZN
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