Daniel Dubois is dabbling in domination at just the right time for heavyweight boxing
"Dabbled," he said. "I've dabbled in it."
That was Daniel Dubois' response when Fabio Wardley, the man he displaced as WBO heavyweight champion in May, revealed to the world Dubois' penchant for playing the harp during the buildup to Saturday night's rematch in London, England. "I have a go," Dubois said. "I'm still learning, man."
To dabble, of course, is, according to the dictionary definition, "to take a slight and not very serious interest in a subject," the idea of which seems at odds with our view of Dubois as both a boxer and a man. He is, after all, someone who is obsessed with his chosen profession and someone who, more than most, appears to have been bred to focus on and do only one thing in life. Some will say he has been programmed to fight and that his father, Dave, wanted nothing more than for his boy to be a world heavyweight champion boxer. Some say he knows little else and that, at age 29, all he has is boxing. They say that to Dubois it is second nature, the throwing of jabs and right hands, and something he does without even thinking, machine-like.
Never, when it comes to his career as a boxer, would anybody accuse Daniel Dubois of merely "dabbling." Nor indeed could anybody imagine a man like Dubois — so fixed in his thinking, so proudly conditioned — spending his time away from boxing consumed by anything other than boxing. The last thing one would expect is for Dubois to "dabble" with an instrument renowned for its softness and its tranquility.
It is maybe for that reason Dubois' declaration that he "dabbles" was immediately seen as amusing in the eyes of both Piers Morgan, the man interviewing him at the time, and the many others who commented on the clip when it was shared and mocked on social media last week. By all accounts, the word choice was funny, and so too the choice of instrument. Most had no idea whether Dubois was being serious or not. Try as they might, they could picture him as neither harpist nor dabbler.
Then again, "dabble," according to its dictionary definition, can also mean "to try a particular activity for a short period of time," something with which Dubois, a knockout artist, is far more familiar. In fact, last night in London, when defending his WBO heavyweight title, Dubois took less than 17 seconds to stagger Fabio Wardley and force the referee, Steve Gray, to intervene and administer a 10-count. During that moment, we can be certain that Dubois was only thinking about doing this particular activity, one he is programmed to do, for a short period of time. Already, with his very first attack, he had closed the distance on Wardley and nailed him with his best shot. Already he had seen it have an impact, dropping Wardley for the first time in his professional career.
Last time, back in May, it took Dubois considerably longer to find his range and start landing his best shots. It wasn't until the middle of the fight, in fact, that he had shrugged off the damage and indignity of two early knockdowns — the first of them just 16 seconds into Round 1 — and started to dictate things behind his ramrod, textbook left jab. That he turned the fight around to stop Wardley in Round 11 was as much a testament to Dubois' technical proficiency as his heart, with solid fundamentals ultimately proving the difference. Had he not been knocked down early on — in the opening round and then again in the third — one can't help but wonder whether the first fight would have been competitive enough to even warrant a rematch. Equally, one wonders whether Wardley would have been spared so much punishment in the process.
In the end, the first fight was arguably the best fight of the year, which in turn made a rematch both anticipated and inevitable. Few would have expected it to happen so quickly — just five months later — but Wardley, the one whose face carried the mementos, and Dubois, the one who now carried the belt, appeared to rather like the idea of a quick turnaround and settling the drama before the year came to a close.
Of the two, Dubois seemed by far the keener, mind you. When, for instance, both he and Wardley were on hand to announce the rematch in a London ring on Aug. 29, Dubois had no time for talking, nor did he want to listen to Wardley talk. Instead, he offered a glimpse of his mindset by saying, "Give me some of that face-to-face s***, boy," and instigating an impromptu faceoff with Wardley on his own terms. If nothing else, it suggested urgency, impatience. It suggested Dubois was in a hurry to get this rivalry finished and that, rather than prolong it unnecessarily, or have it become a time-consuming trilogy, he viewed Wardley as a man with whom he would dabble and that would be that. The extent of it.
He then took this approach into the ring last night, where, having dropped Wardley inside 17 seconds, he proceeded to bust him up with any number of thudding jabs and right hands, all thrown to finish. Indeed, it was a miracle that Wardley remained not only upright for the rest of the first round, but that he heard the sound of the bell to end it. By that point he had been clubbed mercilessly by Dubois and was about to return to his stool on unsteady legs. "Too brave for his own good," was the verdict of former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee on the DAZN broadcast. "His legs aren't right."
Hard as it is to believe, there was already talk of Wardley being pulled out after just one round. This had less to do with the events of the opener, as one-sided as it was, and more to do with context and the fact that what we were currently witnessing could never be extricated from the memories of what had transpired back in May. Combined, the two incidents — that first bloody war, followed by round one of the rematch — indicated beyond a doubt that Dubois had Wardley's number. Worse, they indicated Wardley was only getting weaker in the presence of Dubois and that the result had a certain inevitability to it.
In boxing, of course, the idea is to always prevent the inevitable. That, in this instance, was the job of both the referee and Wardley's corner team, who were all primed to save him as the second round began and Wardley, ill-advisedly, threw a lead uppercut to signal he was still game. That same punch had got him in trouble in Round 1 — leaving him open to Dubois' overhand right — and therefore the sight of Wardley continuing to throw it, almost as a reflex, or a last stand, would have simultaneously horrified his corner team and excited Dubois, who was content to now patiently wait for his next opportunity.
As it turned out, he didn't have to wait long. Inching closer and closer, Dubois had no fear of what was coming back, unlike in their first fight, and this permitted him to trespass at will. Then, once exactly where he wanted to be, he could wait for Wardley to react nervously or out of desperation — see those lead right uppercuts — and exploit the many holes in his defense. This he did expertly in Round 2, when he timed another huge right cross to land on Wardley's chin, followed by two more around the side of his head and a final right uppercut. After that, Wardley's strengths became weaknesses, his courage became dangerous, and a white towel was in the ring, not that Steve Gray, the referee, required prompting or help. With the towel now at his feet, he stopped the fight after two minutes and 21 seconds of Round 2.
"Fabio's a great warrior coming in for a second time, but this is my time and this is my era," said Dubois (24-3, 22 KOs) afterward. "I had bad intentions from the beginning. My back was against the wall the first time and this time we just had to go out there and show we mean business. That's what I did."
At 29, still young in heavyweight terms, Dubois could well be right. Maybe this is his time, his era. After all, most of the world's leading big-name heavyweights — Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua — are winding down their careers rather than producing career-best performances in 2026. Better yet, Dubois isn't just showing form, he is delivering the kind of heavyweight fights fans want to see. Long or short, he is fighting the way fans want heavyweights to fight and he is finishing fights the way fans want to see heavyweights finish fights. Look around the division at some of the others. You will soon see the difference.
Another famous practitioner of the harp — well, the lyre, a form of ancient harp — was Orpheus, the finest musician in Greek mythology. He, according to Apollonius, used his music to charm the stubborn rocks on the mountains and the courses of rivers and managed to move both stones and trees. He even softened the rulers of the dead in the Underworld when his wife, Eurydice, died and Orpheus begged Hades and Persephone to give her life again.
On one condition, they said they would. To see her once more all Orpheus had to do was resist the temptation to look back until he had reached the upper world and Eurydice would be revived, just like that. However, so great was his anxiety, curiosity and impatience when leaving, Orpheus couldn't help turning around; therefore, Eurydice slipped away to the Underworld for a second time.
Perhaps it was the harp, or simply maturity, but Daniel Dubois looked to be a man sure of both his mission and direction of travel last night in London. Impatient, yes, but in the best way, he refused to be drawn into a protracted rivalry with Fabio Wardley and was determined to do what he had to do and never look back.
It was, on reflection, the work of an improving fighter, a dangerous fighter, and a fighter who now has the courage of his convictions. This time he had no doubt. This time he left no doubt. Interestingly, too, for all the mutual respect that was in the air following their first encounter in May, Dubois attacked Wardley with total disrespect when reconnecting with him five months later. Maybe that was because he smelled blood — the blood that had yet to dry. Or maybe when Daniel Dubois used the word "dabble," and said it like he had only just learned it, we should have taken him more seriously.