Wardley seeks a ‘crowning moment’ vs Dubois after Usyk vacated WBO belt

By Canadian Press on February 26, 2026.

LONDON (AP) — WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley wants his “crowning moment” against Daniel Dubois that was denied him by Oleksandr Usyk.

Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) defends the world title against Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) on May 9 in an all-British fight in Manchester.

It will be his first defense of the belt since Usyk gave it up in November.

Wardley surprisingly stopped Joseph Parker in the 11th round in October in London but Usyk did not want to make a mandatory defense against Wardley. He vacated the WBO belt, ending his second reign as the undisputed four-belt heavyweight champion. Usyk retains the WBA, WBC and IBF belts.

Wardley found out he was a world champion in a phone call from manager Michael Ofo. It wasn’t how we wanted to win the belt, and wants the traditional acclaim by beating Dubois, who held the IBF belt until he was knocked out a second time by Usyk last July.

“It does feel like I’ve been robbed of my crowning moment,” Wardley said. “That’s probably the biggest gripe of the whole thing for me.

“The most aggravating bit was why didn’t (Usyk) just do it before (the Parker fight)?

“I’ve spent years watching people win world titles and it’s in the ring, the cheer and the crowd. You raise the belt and you hear, ‘And the new,’ and all of this. And you just get it on the end of a phone call.

“That’s not to take away from it at all because, don’t get me wrong, it’s one hell of an achievement. I’m still extremely proud of it but it is still a weird way to kind of receive a world title or then crown yourself and call yourself a world champion, but winning this fight will provide me with that moment.

“I want to be able to win it in the ring, I want to be able to hear it. I feel like I was a bit denied the first time around.”

Wardley also revealed this week that he sent back his WBO belt because it was engraved with ‘White Rhino,’ the nickname for fellow British heavyweight Dave Allen.

Wardley wasn’t offended.

“Yeah, they said sorry,” he said. “Human error. There’s only a little laugh in it. No one’s hurt. It’s alright.”

The Associated Press

17
-16