Fabio Wardley is ready to go to the “dark place” again this weekend as he insisted he will not flinch in the face of Daniel Dubois’ fearsome power.
Wardley elected against an easy knock-over for the first defence of his WBO heavyweight title at Manchester’s Co-op Live on Saturday night as he cherry-picked Dubois, a former two-time world champion.
Dubois, beaten by the blue riband division’s kingpin Oleksandr Usyk last year, has 21 stoppages from his 22 wins, including a brutal knockout of British compatriot Anthony Joshua nearly two years ago.
Wardley is just as heavy-handed and soaked up punishment from Justis Huni and Joseph Parker in his last two outings, and the Ipswich fighter says he is happy to fight fire with fire once more against Dubois.
“You’re not going to get one (punch) free off and I’m going to run away and be on the other side of the ring,” Wardley (20-0-1, 19KOs) said. “I’m going to knuckle up, head down and come at you.
“It sounds a bit mental but I like the dark place and I like just checking myself in there every now and then and double-checking that I’ve still got it and that’s still in there.
“You can go through one big, hard fight and think you have it but it’s not a constant thing. It’s almost like a muscle, it’s something you have to flex every now and then.
“You’ve just got to double-check that you’ve still got it in the locker. Seemingly, I keep doing it back-to-back-to-back. It’s not something I’m backing away from, I’m going in there all guns blazing.”
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Wardley’s rise from appearing on white-collar shows at the start of his career has been extraordinary and after stunning Parker last October to become WBO interim belt-holder, he was upgraded to full champion when Usyk vacated the title the following month.
Consistently seeking out the toughest challenges and upsetting the odds has led to claims he has no fear of losing but the 31-year-old insisted he is more motivated by the possibilities of having his hand raised.
“It’s not the fear of losing, it’s the thrill of winning,” he added. “That’s the thing that eggs me on the most. I’m not scared to lose, I’m not scared to put it all on the line and I’m not scared to go out on my shield.
“It is the thrill of winning. It’s knowing what comes after or what comes next. It is just seeing how far I can push myself or how far I can go and make it.”
