Having arrived an hour later than the champion to the venue because of Manchester traffic, Dubois made a brisk, business-like ringwalk.<\/p>\n
Wardley, in his first appearance since being upgraded to world champion, soaked in the atmosphere with a leisurely entrance. Draped in an Ipswich Town Football Club robe, he was greeted by a warm reception from the 18,000-strong crowd.<\/p>\n
With a combined record of 42 wins – 40 coming by knockout – there was palpable anticipation inside the arena, and Wardley stayed true to his promise to bring the action early as Dubois immediately hit the canvas after a flush right hand.<\/p>\n
Dubois winked to his corner but looked shell-shocked. He wrestled Wardley to the ground as both fighters swung for the hills. <\/p>\n
Many expected Dubois to impose himself early before Wardley could settle. Considered the better technical boxer, he regrouped and landed a right in the second. <\/p>\n
Momentum swung again in the third when Wardley, who looked sharp with his overhand right and uppercuts, sent Dubois wobbling. Dubois took a knee and survived the count before firing back with a right hand that rocked Wardley. <\/p>\n
The fighters and fans struggled to catch a breath as trainer Don Charles urged Dubois to lean on his jab, and he followed that instruction to take control of proceedings.<\/p>\n
Dubois’ left eye was swollen, but Wardley’s face looked a mess as Dubois set up his attacks with a left jab before landing his biggest shots in the fourth and the sixth.<\/p>\n
Wardley, who was working in recruitment a decade ago, showed an extraordinary chin and heart as he refused to go down despite his legs trembling and blood pouring down his face.<\/p>\n
Most would likely have been withdrawn by their corner, but Wardley has built a reputation on dramatic comebacks. This time, however, it felt different.<\/p>\n
The doctor inspected Wardley’s injuries before the eighth round and allowed him to continue. <\/p>\n
By the ninth, the referee looked ready to intervene as Wardley continued to absorb heavy punishment and the contest became increasingly difficult to watch. <\/p>\n
Doctors again allowed Wardley to continue before the 10th and when the stoppage finally arrived in the 11th, there was almost a sense of relief. <\/p>\n
A sensational fight had reached its conclusion. <\/p>\n
Warren – a veteran of 45 years in the sport – described it as “the best heavyweight fight” he has ever promoted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having arrived an hour later than the champion to the venue because of Manchester traffic, Dubois made a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":785895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-785894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116548716095803845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}