WARDLEY VS. DUBOIS 2 WEIGH-IN, PRESSER, TRAINER ANALYSIS & BETTING ODDS
Trainer Ben Davidson and Don Charles – How Wardley vs. Dubois Rematch is Approaching
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Greenwich, UK (October 16th, 2026)– DAZN Pay-Per-View and Queensberry Promotions will present a 12-bout televised card of boxing at 02 Arena, Greenwich, United Kingdom, on Saturday, October 17, 2026, featuring the World Boxing Organization World Heavyweight title rematch between Daniel Dubois and ex-champion Fabio Wardley.
Wardley, 20-1-1 with 19 knockouts, Ipswich, United Kingdom, stands 6’5″ with a 78-inch reach. In his last three bouts, Wardley stopped Justis Huni and Joseph Parker, then lost his World Boxing Organisation world heavyweight title to Dubois. His opponent, Dubois, 23-3 with 22 knockouts, Greenwich, London, United Kingdom, also stands 6’5″ with 78 inches of reach. Dubois knocked out Anthony Joshua, lost to Oleksandr Usyk, then beat Wardley in world heavyweight title bouts.
Fabio Wardley’s preparations for managing and preventing injuries in the training camp leading up to his upcoming Daniel Dubois rematch balance high-intensity physical conditioning with structured physical and neurological recovery. Wardley sustained severe facial damage, swelling, and a fractured orbital floor during their first brutal 11-round encounter. His trainers Ben Davison (who also works with Anthony Joshua) and Lee Wylie, along with sports science specialists at Boxing Science, have instituted strict injury-prevention protocols.
To avoid pushing a heavyweight’s body to the point of training injury, Wardley’s camps are now utilizing tailored biomechanical adjustments rather than standard heavy lifting. These adjustments include: Modified Explosive Lifting, with trainers using heavy trap bar jumps (ranging from 90–110 kg during peak phases and tapering down to 45 kg near fight day) to optimize lower-body momentum without overloading vulnerable joints; Impact Dissipation, whereby the team utilizes banded weighted squats and landmine presses to build functional fast-twitch hypertrophy, ensuring that kinetic force transfers optimally through the trunk rather than over-stressing his shoulders and lower back; and The RAMP Protocol Warm-up, whereby every gym session kicks off with a strict raise, activate, mobilize, and potentiate routine. This process systematically raises core temperature, while loosening target muscle groups specifically to prevent acute tearing during sudden, explosive combinations.
Wardley explicitly emphasizes that performance improvements only happen if a fighter brings a fully restored body to the gym daily. His recovery regimen is designed to combat extreme muscle tension before it translates into a structural injury. This involves: strategic low-activity days with hard sparring and intense conditioning, alternated with dedicated resting windows to prevent cumulative overtraining syndrome; and thermal and manual therapy, involving deep tissue massage to address localized tightness before it triggers chronic strain, paired with regular sauna sessions to stimulate circulation and decrease residual inflammation between camps.
Given the significant physical trauma of the first bout, specialized attention is paid to head and facial recovery, involving: Delayed Sparring and Controlled Impact, with direct sparring strictly delayed to avoid Post-Concussive Syndrome and secondary trauma; and Neurological Monitoring, with medical protocols requiring a progression of brain scans such as CAT or MRI scans to contrast base baselines and confirm complete internal healing before full-contact camp activities resume.
Daniel Dubois head trainer, Don Charles, will approach the Fabio Wardley rematch much differently as well, with four key points:
One, Dubois will have a sharper and more focused start. Charles acknowledged Dubois was nervous and lacked concentration early in the first fight, which led to two early flash knockdowns, due to lingering mental fatigue from his loss to Oleksandr Usyk. Charles has promised a much sharper, more clinical, and more precise Daniel Dubois from the beginning of the rematch with Wardley.
Two, Charles is working to eliminate fundamental errors in boxing technique to avoid the tactical and fundamental mistakes that allowed Wardley back into the first bout.
Three, Dubois needs to maintain a challenger’s mindset: Despite winning the first explosive encounter by TKO late in the first bout, Charles insists they are training without complacency and approaching the rematch with a challenger’s hunger.
Fourth, Charles is rebuilding Dubois’s psychological confidence. Having shaken off the post-Usyk turbulence and reunited with Charles, Dubois will enter the rematch as the champion with higher overall confidence, composure, and ring generalship.
DUBOIS VS. WARDLEY 2 AVERAGE BETTING ODDS:
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