Fabio Wardley considers nuance when answering whether Daniel Dubois is a quitter or not.
It was once a tag that hounded the rising heavyweight’s career, after he took a knee during his stoppage loss to Joe Joyce, as well as his knockout defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, too. However, it has not prevented him from scoring marquee wins, like his thumping victory over Anthony Joshua in an all-British banger.
Organizers of Wardley’s upcoming WBO heavyweight world title defense against Dubois, which headlines a Queensberry Promotions show at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester on May 9, will hope it’s another domestic clash that delivers.
But ahead of the event, Wardley broke down Dubois and his mental strength in high-pressure moments, when speaking with Bad Left Hook.
“In some fights he’s shown that he’s shied away from the challenge in some situations.”
— Fabio Wardley on whether Daniel Dubois is a quitter
“But in others [he’s shown he’s got that dog in him] — it’s always about the roundabout with him,” said Wardley.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get because in other fights he has proven, bit down, like [Filip] Hrgovic for example, and got stuck into that where it was a back and forth fight.”
Wardley continued: “And then there’s been other occasions where he hasn’t done, so I think in that scenario it depends on Daniel and what Daniel shows up on the night and how he feels about the situation and if he feels he can climb his way back or not.
“If he feels like he’s in a situation where he can’t, maybe those inner demons get to him a bit and just doesn’t want it.”
For Wardley to win come fight night, the WBO champion will hope to put Dubois in one of the situations he mentions in which he believes his opponent’s “inner demons” will get the better of him.
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Alan Dawson is Boxing Social’s editor.
He is also a columnist for Uncrowned at Yahoo Sports, and the founder-moderator of Boxing Twitter — a 20,000-strong community on X.
A 17-year sports media veteran, Alan has enjoyed extensive stints at Business Insider as a correspondent, BT Sport as digital editor, and Give Me Sport as combat sports editor.
He is a 2-time Sports Journalist of the Year finalist and has been honored six times by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Alan grew up near London but is based in Nevada with his young family. Outside boxing he plays 8-handicap golf, hikes, and rides his ebike through the Sierra mountain trails.
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