Daniel Dubois vs. Fabio Wardley set for WBO heavyweight title in May

Daniel Dubois will have a chance to be heavyweight champion once again when he faces WBO champ Fabio Wardley on May 9. The fight will take place at the Co-Op Live in Manchester, England, Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions announced Friday.

Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KO) scored the biggest win of his career this past October, stopping Joseph Parker in the 11th round of their clash for the WBO interim title. After undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk chose to relinquish his WBO title, Wardley was promoted to full champion.

The win over Parker was Wardley’s second consecutive late stoppage win in a fight he was losing on the scorecards. Prior to the Parker win, Wardley was down big on the scorecards against Justis Huni, only to score a knockout in Round 10 to win the WBA interim title.

Dubois has taken a hard road to become one of the top heavyweights in the world. After a 15-0 start to his career, Dubois suffered a 2020 knockout loss to Joe Joyce in a fight where he was ahead on two of three scorecards but suffered a broken left orbital bone and nerve damage around his eye.

Dubois bounced back with four stoppage wins before losing to Usyk in a bout for three world championships. Two fights later, Dubois won the IBF interim title with a stoppage of Filip Hrgovic and was promoted to full champion after Usyk vacated the title.

After the biggest win of his career, a dominant fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua in a packed Wembley Stadium in London, Dubois was set to defend his belt against Parker in February 2025 only to be forced out of the bout due to illness. In his return to the ring, Dubois was again stopped by Usyk in a bout to crown an undisputed champion.

Dubois has not fought since the July 2025 loss to Usyk in the rematch, but gets another crack at a world title against a champion with big power, but who has needed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in back-to-back fights.