Fabio Wardley needs more time for a rematch with Daniel Dubois, says Olympic super-heavyweight gold medallist Audley Harrison.
Wardley dropped Dubois twice but lost his WBO world championship in the 11th round of their brutal heavyweight slugfest.
Badly hurt in the later stages of the fight, Wardley never went down. The referee eventually stopped him on his feet.
But Harrison is convinced that Wardley should have been pulled out earlier. “It was one round too much, in my opinion,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I think the fighter had nothing left. Fighters want to go out on their shield.
“You’ve got to make the right decision for what was in front of you in terms of the situation.”
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Daniel Dubois stopped Fabio Wardley in the eleventh round of an incredible heavyweight battle and became a two-time world champion. Fight highlights courtesy of DAZN
Wardley does have a rematch clause in his contract. Harrison does expect him to trigger it and secure a second fight with Dubois, even though he believes Wardley needs more time for that rematch.
“In the boxing world when you have a rematch clause it’s very hard not to take it, that’s just typically what we see,” Harrison said.
“I would like Team Wardley, including Ben Davison [his trainer], to look in the mirror and say we have to go back to the drawing board and fix some of the things we need to fix so that we can be successful in the fight.
“The guy came from white collar boxing and he’s been able to fast track himself. It’s amazing what they’ve done but now you’ve got to go in the gym and actually fix some of the things you need to fix so you can be more competitive in the rematch.”
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Daniel Dubois had nothing but praise for Fabio Wardley following their sensational fight at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester for the WBO heavyweight belt
But Harrison noted: “That doesn’t really happen in boxing. You have a rematch clause, if you don’t take it now you’re not going to get it in 12 months time. You’re kind of forced to do it.
“I think the rematch is going to happen because of the way boxing is, it’s very hard to say no to that money, to just have that opportunity to get him back.”
For Harrison, it was Dubois’ base of boxing skills that ultimately made the difference between him and Wardley.
“Dubois started using boxing fundamentals on him from the fifth or sixth round and started beating him up,” Harrison said.
“Technically I think Dubois done a great job and I think that’s what separated him.”
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