Daniel Dubois’ trainer Don Charles believes Fabio Wardley is already feeling the effects of the punishment he absorbed in their brutal first encounter, as he suggested the former heavyweight champion’s corner did him a ‘disservice’ by allowing their fight to continue for so long.
Wardley and Dubois produced a gruelling contest in Manchester last May, with the fight eventually stopped in the 11th round after the former world champion had subjected his opponent to a sustained assault in the latter rounds.
Wardley’s remarkable resilience was a defining feature of the contest, but Charles believes the damage he endured could already be catching up with him ahead of their highly anticipated rematch this Saturday.
The veteran trainer also questioned whether Wardley’s team should have intervened sooner, suggesting that their hope of seeing the champion produce another fight-changing punch may have come at a cost to his health.
‘They let Fabio down a little bit, in my opinion, for his health,’ Charles said.
‘Being the champion, being a guy who has done it previously and is able to pull out a shot at any point during the fight, whether early or late, he has got that in him.
Daniel Dubois’ trainer Don Charles believes Fabio Wardley is already feeling the effects of the punishment he absorbed in their brutal first encounter
Dubois (right) and Wardley (left) will go toe-to-toe for a second time on Saturday evening
Their first fight in May was a brutal affair, with the contest being stopped in the 11th round
‘So perhaps the team were thinking, ‘Maybe he just needs that one punch’, because he has done it in the past. But there comes a point where you have to do the sensible thing.
‘A couple of days after the fight, I relaxed and watched it back. Oh my God, it was really bad, in my opinion.
‘Again, it is their decision. There is the referee there and there are the doctors. But I think they let Fabio down a little bit, in my opinion, for his health.’
Charles stressed that his focus during the fight had been entirely on Dubois, meaning he had not fully appreciated the extent of Wardley’s punishment until he watched the contest back afterwards.
His comments come amid renewed scrutiny of the first fight and the decision to allow Wardley to continue into the championship rounds, although the man from Ipswich has defended his corner against suggestions they got it wrong.
Wardley regards the people around him as family and trusts them to put his welfare first, even when the decisions they make are questioned from the outside.
Charles believes the physical demands of Wardley’s all-action style could have consequences beyond a single night in the ring, arguing that the damage accumulated in such gruelling contests can gradually take its toll.
‘I think he is already noticing the wear and tear, from an observational point of view,’ Charles said.
Charles suggested the former heavyweight champion’s corner did him a ‘disservice’ by allowing their fight to continue for so long
Dubois has just signed a six-figure deal brokered by NVA SEG Talent Group to become the global ambassador for British performance and lifestyle brand Resonance Energy Wear
‘It is entertaining for the public, granted, but you cannot have a very long career fighting like that. It catches up with you. It really does, and it chips away at you.
‘You cannot keep fighting gung-ho like that. It is very entertaining, like I said, but you really have to look at the bigger picture.’
Charles believes Dubois will approach the return bout with greater discipline after being caught off guard in their initial meeting and warns the rematch could end early despite preparing for the possibility of another prolonged battle.
‘What you are going to see is a more disciplined display and more alertness,’ he said.
‘Obviously, we got caught off guard last time, so we have rectified that. This time, it is going to be a more disciplined, more dynamic and more technical performance.
‘We have trained as if this were the olden days, when you boxed up to 15 rounds. If this fight has to go 15 rounds to get a victory, 15 rounds it is.
‘This fight could end in round one, or it could end in round 12 or 15. It needs to be.’
One of Charles’s biggest questions ahead of the rematch concerns how Wardley will respond when Dubois lands cleanly, particularly if DDD can recreate some of the punishing moments from their first encounter.
Charles believes Dubois will approach the return bout with greater discipline after being caught off guard in their initial meeting and warns the rematch could end early
Charles believes the physical demands of Wardley’s all-action style could have consequences beyond a single night, arguing that the damage accumulated can gradually take its toll
The expert trainer suggested that the memories of that night could return once Wardley begins absorbing shots again, although he acknowledged the 31-year-old’s extraordinary toughness.
‘Fabio is made of something else. He is made of steel, that man, the amount of punishment he took and kept taking,’ Charles said.
‘But it is our duty to recall those entries, to remind him of the pain he felt last May in Manchester.
‘As soon as that bell rings, our duty is to recall that pain. If he has forgotten it, Daniel will remind him in that ring: ‘This is what you were feeling.’
‘He is a human being like you and I. Once he starts feeling that unbearable pain, the rest is up to him and his team, and what they do under the referee’s supervision.’
