- 2 weeks ago
Dubois and Wardley prepare for their fight at the O2
15/10/2026
The O2
15/10/2026
The O2
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00:00press conference for Run It Back. It's World Championship Boxing this Saturday
00:07at the O2 Arena in London, England. It is all being brought to you by Frank Warren
00:15for Queensbury, along with their great sponsors, Mr. Q Casino, That Prize Guy,
00:23Global Next Trade, Fleximize Business Loans, Vow Nutrition, and Riyadh Season.
00:30A big thanks to those great sponsors. Well, a few reminders, ladies and gentlemen,
00:37only a limited amount of tickets still remain, and they are available via AXS.com.
00:47And don't forget, you can watch it all live, worldwide, exclusively on DAZN, buy now at DAZN.com.
01:02Well, ladies and gentlemen, our highly anticipated main event this Saturday, it will be Power
01:13versus Power. Their first fight made history, and now it all comes down to this, the rematch,
01:2312 rounds scheduled for the WBO Heavyweight Championship of the World. Let's now welcome
01:33the fighters. First, the challenger from Ipswich, England. His professional record consists of 20
01:42wins, just one defeat, one draw. 19 of his 20 wins come by way of knockout. He is the former
01:51WBO Heavyweight Champion of the World, Fabio Wardley!
02:09And now we welcome the defending champion from Greenwich, London, England. His professional
02:17record, 23 wins, three defeats, 22 of his 23 wins come by way of knockout. He is a two-time
02:27world
02:28champion. And this Saturday, the reigning and defending WBO Heavyweight Champion of the World,
02:37World, Triple D, Daniel Dynamite Dubois! And now, we also welcome, joining us here today,
02:52manager of Fabio Wardley, Mr. Michael Ofo. Representing Daniel Dubois, Mr. Riz Khan. Trainer of Daniel Dubois,
03:04Mr. Don Charles. The Vice President of Marketing for DAZN, Mr. Alfie Sharman. And International
03:13Boxing Hall of Fame promoter, Mr. Frank Warren. And now, we hand things over to your host. He is the
03:22voice of boxing, Mr. Adam Smith. Thank you, Thomas. What a turnout. Really good to see you all on this
03:32October
03:32afternoon. 161 days on, the two most exciting, explosive KO kings of this generation collide all
03:43over again. Heavyweight rematches through history. We've had Ali Liston, Ali Frazier, Bowen Holyfield,
03:52Evander and I and Mike Lennox against McCall and Rackman, Fury Wilder, and of course, Tyson and
04:00Oleksandr Usyk. But the first clash between these two, Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois was amongst the
04:09most unbelievable we've ever witnessed at ringside. Beautiful brutality which had it all. What happens
04:19next? No press conference tables needed to be turned over, but the tables have definitely turned.
04:28Daniel is now a two-time heavyweight champion. He holds the WBO title and Fabio Wardley is out for
04:38revenge. Frank, you called it the greatest heavyweight fight you've promoted. Think back to May and think
04:46forward to Saturday night. I think back to May and all it was in May was edge of your seat.
04:53You sat
04:53there, you know, your jaw dropped watching these two guys giving everything they got, everything,
05:00putting it all on the line in a most exciting heavyweight fight for years and years. And we got
05:06it coming up again. So it was going to be 163 days by then. And we got it coming up
05:12then and it's going to be,
05:13you know, I think it'll be equally as exciting. These guys have shared the ring with each other.
05:18They know each other. And it's going to be who can, you know, who's learned from that fight? Who
05:25got the other guys number? You know, what they, what they come away from, from that fight. And I think
05:32as soon as that bell goes, knowing their styles, knowing as a fan, knowing boxing, it's just going to be
05:39get down on it. They're just going to be throwing their shots, trying to get the other guys, uh,
05:45respect and attention and letting the bombs go. That's what this is going to be. It'll be bombs away.
05:51Soon as that bell rings, excitement, excitement. And I just don't see it going the distance. So 42
05:59knockouts between them. I think it's unlikely to go the distance. And what about this time for
06:04the heavyweights? Greensbury has so many and these matches that are being put on for,
06:08for the fans. And this is right at the top of the list. It is, you know, this is, this,
06:13they're KO machines. These two guys, they're KO machines. And, you know, we put on, what is it now?
06:19I think it's three or four heavyweight title fights this year, world heavyweight title fights.
06:23We've got another one coming up in Germany with Ajit Kabael on the 28th of November.
06:31We've got, obviously, Tyson in the ring with AJ. That's in, in December. Next year,
06:37we've got Filip Hergovic. He'll be defending his title, we hope, in Croatia.
06:43It's just, it's just a great time for heavyweight boxing. And the winner of tonight will go into
06:48the 2027, sorry, winner of Saturday will go into 2027, involved in some of the biggest fights that
06:54have ever been in, in heavyweight history. It's a great time for heavyweight boxing. And these two
07:00guys are, you know, they carry banners. They, they, they, they made it happen. They've made this
07:06excitement. They're a huge part of it, the both of them. We wish it was tonight, but we've got two
07:12more sleeps. Daniel Dubois, a two-time heavyweight champion. You got up off the floor twice in
07:21Manchester, and you had one of the sweetest victories of your career. How has that brought
07:27you on into this rematch, confidence-wise, momentum, that relationship you have with
07:33Don Charles? How are you feeling going into this one?
07:36I'm feeling stronger, feeling, you know, just grounded and ready to go out there and do my job.
07:44You know, another one, get through this and do bigger and better things.
07:49Do you look back at what happened in Manchester, or is this just a new night, a new fight?
07:55Yeah, like I said, I'm ready to go out there and do my job. I take every fight serious, every,
08:01every
08:02challenge 100%. So I'm just, um, zoned in to go out there and, you know, perform.
08:09A little bit of psychology in the build-up, Daniel, saying that he punches like a baby. That's not
08:14quite true, is it? Listen, I'm, this is a real, this is, um, this is what it is, boxing. I'm
08:22ready
08:22to go out there and go to war and, um, yeah, locked in. But you have high respect for the
08:28man just
08:28inches away from you. Of course, I'm ready to go out there and do battle.
08:33Fabio, 19 knockouts in your 20 wins. I think we all know that you've got the golden bullet when
08:38you need it. Um, has five months been enough to recuperate from what happened? And how are you
08:44feeling going in having lost for the first time in your life? Yeah, surprisingly, I feel great. Um,
08:51it's one of those things, especially when you suffer a loss, it's never part of the plan,
08:54it's never what you want. But, um, I think the, the thought of it is actually worse than
09:00the reality. Um, especially with myself and my resume and the way I go about things of wanting to
09:05put myself in the biggest fights out there, put myself in the biggest tests. I said this a lot
09:09at the build-up that I was, I was unlikely to get through this boxing game unscathed,
09:15uh, with an undefeated record, leaving the game like Floyd Mayweather, sorry, or something like that,
09:20because I want to be in there with the best. Like I say, first time around,
09:23I was the one that picked Daniel. That was my voluntary choice. Um, so I want to be in there
09:28with the best guys. So that does put you in a, in a situation for jeopardy for things to go
09:32wrong.
09:33And yeah, okay, it did on the right, but I can, I can right those wrongs.
09:37And hours later, you press the button on the rematch clause. You want to be in the biggest
09:42and best fights and to test yourself every bit of the way. Yeah, look, we, we as a team know
09:47where I went wrong, me especially. Um, it didn't take a lot for me to look at that fight and
09:52go,
09:53right. These are the areas I messed up because there were some, there were some great areas
09:56in there where I had a huge amount of success. Um, but also some areas I didn't do too well
10:01on.
10:01And that is part of my growth, part of my learning. Again, this is trivial and almost funny to say
10:06at this stage, but I have only had 26 odd, 27 odd fights in total, um, in my whole life.
10:15Uh, you want to count in my four white color fights. And so, uh, yeah, I'm still doing a bit
10:21of learning
10:21and I slipped up on the night. I did some things wrong, but okay, no problem. Um, I can go
10:26back
10:26to the drawing board, be honest with myself, be playing and go, right. These are the things we need
10:30to adjust going forward and make those changes.
10:32I absolutely love the attitude Alfie Sharman. I know you do as well. Why should people tune in
10:39Saturday night on the global home of boxing? Uh, well, why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't they based
10:46on the first fight? Um, I think anyone within the sport, obviously I'm going to say to tune in,
10:51but anyone within the sport, uh, saw that and arguably one of the greatest heavyweight fights
10:56of all time. I mean, if that doesn't win fight of the year, the only thing I think that could
10:59genuinely
11:00top it is, is this Saturday for boxing fans. Um, no reason to not watch, um, for sports fans more
11:07generally, you would have seen our campaign where we're broadening our audience. Uh, we believe that
11:12fans of sport all around the world should witness this, the storylines, the narratives. Let's also
11:17not forget that this is for the heavyweight championship of the world. Adam, you know,
11:21this is the creme de la creme of, of fight sports. Um, it's quite remarkable that it was only May
11:26that they had that war and here we are. So, you know, I'm not surprised because these are, these
11:31are fighters. These are elite level athletes, but, um, one of many reasons why I don't do it. Um,
11:37and, uh, yeah, I just think that it can't be missed quite literally. It can't be missed.
11:42We're mid October week in week out. We've had some fantastic matchups up and down the country,
11:47all around the globe as well. What treats have we got in store for the coming weeks up to Christmas?
11:52Yeah, well, look, I mean, we, we, we call ourselves the global home of Oxford and we take that claim
11:56very seriously. Um, and the proof is in the pudding. Um, obviously we have this event later on that
12:01night on the October 17th, we have, uh, Sebastian Fundora, um, you know, moving into next week,
12:07Dalton Smith obviously, uh, defends his title against, uh, Puello, which will be an unbelievable
12:11fight later that night. Unification, Navarrete, Oshaki Foster. I think we have more world title fights
12:17in 12 days than the average competitor, shall we say, has in 12 months. So again,
12:22proof is in the pudding. Um, world title was right the way up to the end of the year. Obviously,
12:27Willie and Josh Bruazzi has been elevated, Nick Ball, Anto Kakachi, great, great fights. Ajit
12:32Caballo, as Frank said, and another heavyweight championship of the world fight, which has
12:37implications in the division next year. Um, and look, it's a wonderful time to be a boxing fan,
12:42say it all the time. Um, and there's only one place to tune in on design. So I look forward
12:46to
12:46seeing people there Saturday and for the weeks to come. Alfie, fantastic. And the O2 will be
12:51rocking. It certainly was in Belfast at the press conference for Kakachi Ball on Friday when Carl
12:56and I were there. Really good to see fight fans out. Great to see so many media here, uh, today.
13:01Let's get in and amongst you. Uh, any questions for the, uh, the world champion or challenger or Frank?
13:09All right. Gavin from, uh, the zone news, Fabio, you've been very relaxed. I'm here, mate.
13:15You've been very relaxed and having a lot of fun as we saw in the public workout yesterday.
13:20Is that because you feel under less pressure this time round?
13:24Yeah, partly. Um, I, I've said again in the buildup, this feels like more my natural place,
13:32the underdog. And there's a lot of talk around the fight's too soon and I'm going to lose. It's going
13:37to be repeat and it's going to be worse than the first time. And that is a, that is a
13:41echo of
13:43the majority of all of my fights in my career. Uh, I've always, I've been pinned as the underdog,
13:49as pinned as the, the fight is the step too far. So all of a sudden I feel in a
13:53really comfy place,
13:54a really natural place. I'll just, uh, where I'm used to being. And yeah, there's a bit of a weight
13:59lifted once you've lost and, and that's gone and you shook that off and just moving forward. And
14:04there's no need for me to walk through fight week all stiff and pressure and grim faced because
14:11I've got enough of that work to do on Saturday night. I don't, I don't need to, uh, I don't
14:15need
14:15to do it all now. Now's the fun bit.
14:23Quit.
14:44Yeah, look, um, that, um, that's entirely down to myself. That's the level of inexperience. Um,
14:50um, a level of becoming overzealous in the fight overconfident, um, with myself and the power I
14:58have and my right hands. Um, and that's an, that's a, in all honesty, it's an easy adjustment to make
15:04is to calm myself down and take it round by round and work through the motions, um, at a bit
15:10more of
15:11a better pace rather than kind of having a, a one track mind and thinking that the right hand is
15:15just
15:16going to end it constantly for me. So yeah, of course, that's something we've looked at.
15:21Question for Frank. Frank, you've got all or most of the heavyweights in this division. Will the winner
15:26of this on Saturday go on to a unification in the first part of next year? Well, I'm sure that's
15:31what
15:31they want. You know, the winner of this, uh, will be looking to, to be making big money next year.
15:37They're professional fighters and they'll be looking to fight the best. Now we're hoping by the end of
15:42next year, we've got a unified champion. That's what we set out to do from the beginning.
15:47And we've been putting all these shows on and I want to emphasize every one of these shows,
15:51I've only got about a hundred and odd tickets left for Saturday, but every one of these shows
15:55involving these guys is selling out. When I mean selling out, no tickets left on the night.
16:01And it's a great time for heavyweight boxing. And the winner of this will capitalize on it.
16:07Everybody wants to see the heavyweights. Everybody wants to see the big guys.
16:10They want to see the wars. They want to see the punch power. And these guys have got it in
16:15spades.
16:15So we're going to find out at the end of the day who it's going to be on Saturday.
16:21And it's not the end of the world for the loser either. But this is exciting. I mean,
16:27I am so excited about this fight. The first one, as I said, it took my breath away sitting there
16:33on
16:33the edge of my seat and I've been around longer than all of you and sitting on the edge of
16:36my seat watching
16:37it. And this is going to be the same again. Fabio, just back here. Hand in the air on the
16:42stairs.
16:45You've had some brutal fights in your career, as has Daniel, but how does it feel like mentally,
16:50how do you prepare yourself to go back to that place, to go back to what many people think will
16:56be the 13th round against the man who, in the first fight, you couldn't find that way through the way
17:02you did against Justice Hooney, against Joseph Parker? Mentally, how do you kind of go back to that place?
17:09Quite easily.
17:13Yeah, that's the easy bit. Going back to that place is the easy bit.
17:19The area we're paying more attention to is having control on that. It's not just throwing down,
17:26stepping forward, throwing hands. A more tactical, a more strategic approach to things. Because,
17:33like you said, if someone wants to have a wall with me, I'm more than happy to oblige.
17:39Nine times out of ten, I'm the instigator of that. So, we've made some adjustments. We've made some
17:44changes. Things will look slightly different and I'll come out and shape up slightly different and
17:51we'll lay out a different plan. Thanks very much, guys. Let's bring in Riz Khan,
17:55a part of Team Dubois, a serious part. You've been around Annie for a long time now. You've had a
18:00few
18:00downs, but you've had plenty of ups too. What happened Saturday night? How's your man?
18:05Thanks, Adam. I think it's really difficult to comprehend we sat here less than six months
18:13after that brutal war in Manchester. And that was an indoor record for a boxing fight in the UK.
18:21It was the best heavyweight title fight for Britons in the UK for ten years and it was fight of
18:28the
18:28year. And to be treated again for the British boxing public to have another replay of that
18:34within a six-month period is quite phenomenal. So, well done, Frank, to achieve that.
18:39Moving on towards the fight this weekend, Adam, your question.
18:46Fabio had a rematch clause and I was quite surprised that he instigated it really quickly.
18:52I personally feel he's underestimated coming into this fight so soon after the first fight in
18:58Manchester. Just sat here looking at Daniel. Daniel is stronger, fitter, sharper, leaner than what he
19:06was in the first fight in Manchester. And Daniel's already said over the last week or so in a number
19:12of
19:12interviews, he wasn't 100% at his game. He's going to be ready from the off. We know Fabio is
19:20not fully
19:21healed from his injuries. That's my personal opinion. And he's going to try and take Daniel
19:25out in the first few rounds. Daniel's going to be ready from the off. And like I say, Daniel's
19:30going to be ready to knock Fabio out, in my opinion, before round five. That's my prediction.
19:38Fireworks. Michael, I guess you disagree from Team Wardley. How are you assessing things?
19:44Yeah, I'm sure he's been feeling him up and so he knows how strong his muscles have
19:48become since the last fight. But yeah, I trust in the process that Fabio has taken and I believe
19:54that he's in a better place than he was. And he's ready to go to war, you know. The first
20:02fight was
20:03an amazing fight, but there was also lots going on in that fight that I guess is not talked about
20:08as
20:08much as what I'd like. So the MMA rubble tackling, there was a lot of leading with the heads. You
20:15know,
20:17those things are not going to be happening. And like I said, I expect Fabio to come through this
20:22with flying colors. I think this will be similar to the Fraser Clark performance.
20:32When Fabio, after the fight, the team was pretty disrespectful towards Fabio. And we don't forget
20:38these things. You know, Daniel Dubois said to him, he's a dead man walking. You know, you can't say
20:43those things and not be punished for those things. So this is going to be a great contest between the
20:49two guys. But one thing I can agree with, I don't think this goes more than six rounds.
20:54Confidence from both sides. Don Charles has been a huge part in what's happened with Daniel Dubois.
21:02Incredibly wise and terrific heavyweight coach. Great to have you in the corner again with Daniel.
21:07How do you see it? You played such a big part last time. Are you going to have to play
21:12that sort of
21:12role again? Good afternoon, everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, again, attending.
21:19We always appreciate you. Yeah. To your question, Adam. Yeah. Basically,
21:23I'm going to keep it pure and simple because action speaks louder than words. I can say all I want
21:28to
21:28say here, but I'm not the one who gets in the ring to fight. Daniel does. And also, there isn't
21:34any
21:35trainer representing Fabio Wardley on the top table. There never is. So it's not fair for me to
21:40blab on. All I know is tune in. This fight will deliver with interest.
21:46Very quickly though, Don, is there a change in Daniel since that first fight in terms of confidence,
21:52momentum and belief? He's a human being. So obviously from that emphatic victory in the way it was gotten,
21:59he answered a lot of questions to himself. It wasn't our game plan. I can promise you to touch
22:04canvas twice to come back and win in that fashion. He did a systematic breakdown of his opposition.
22:10But we don't take anything for granted. We're professionals. We've trained diligently.
22:16We've identified and rectified the mistakes that we made during the last encounter. And I can assure
22:25you, we can assure ourselves, first and foremost, I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that we have
22:30removed the errors we made in the last fight. So like I said, tune in, watch. We will deliver.
22:39Guess what? With interest. Thanks, Don. Before we get the big guys to face off,
22:44final word from the two of you. Your teams are predicting wins within six rounds. Fabio first as
22:50challenger. What happens Saturday night around about 10 o'clock?
22:55Yeah, look, I think the one thing all of us on this top table can agree on. One,
22:59it's not going the distance. And two, it's probably over pretty quickly. Adjustments will be made.
23:05A more clinical performance will be done. And I will capitalize on the moments I had earlier on the
23:11fight the first time around. I knocked down in the first 10 seconds. I let that go a bit shy.
23:15And knocked down the third rounds. Let him off the hook a bit easy there. But there's no way this
23:21time. Once I sniff blood, he's gone. He's getting out of there. Once he sniffs blood. Daniel, your
23:26response and prediction? Yeah, I'm ready to rumble. So let's go at war. We're all ready to rumble.
23:34Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardy will face off here. World heavyweight title on the line
23:41at the O2. Queensbury in the zone. Saturday night. Do not miss it.
23:52Sean Khalif from MAM.
23:58Money's the motivation. Money's the conversation. You on vacation. We getting paid, so we on vacation.
24:05Let's now have the fighter's face off.
24:09Yeah, it's the life I chose. Gunshots in the dark, one eye closed.
24:15And we got it cooking like a one eye stone. You can kiss me kissing my girl.
24:19Live, worldwide. Exclusively on DAZN. Brought to you by Greg Warren, Ford Freesberry.
24:27This is the rematch. Scheduled for 12 rounds. And it'll be for the WBO Heavyweight Championship
24:37of the World. It's the challenger, Fabio Wardley versus the defending world champion,
24:46Triple D, Daniel Dynamite Dubois.
24:51This moment, we own it.
24:54Hey, I'm about to be played with me
24:57Cause it can get interesting
25:00These people I ride with
25:02This moment, we own it
25:05And the same ones that I ride with
25:07Be the same ones that I die with
25:08Put it all out on the line with
25:09If you're looking for me, you can find wit
25:11In the new car or the crown wit
25:12Thank you