After Last Night’s Brutal War, Nobody Can Ever Again Question Daniel Dubois’ Heart Or Fabio Wardley’s

Sometimes in this great, savage, and epic sport we so love, two fighters climb into the ring and give too much; they take each other to a frightening place, one that is incomprehensible to us mere mortals. This is just what happened last night when Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley went to war, when they went to hell and back, over the course of a little under 11 rounds, at times too hard to watch.

It was brutal, it was bloody, it was a case of extreme, disturbing violence. Dubois, who must never, ever be handed a “quitter” tag again, rose from two knockdowns; he ate hefty punch after hefty head punch, and eventually, Dubois, 23-3(22), got the stoppage win and became a two-time heavyweight champ.

The now 20-1-1(19) Wardley? He showed the kind of superhuman, again, incomprehensible heart, courage, bravery, and yet more bravery to last as long as he did in the street fight that masqueraded as a boxing match. His face battered, his eyes swollen, blood pumping from his damaged nose, Wardley somehow managed to take the kind of mule-kicks no fighter should have been able to take, to absorb. Even at the bitter end, the stoppage by referee Howard Foster was deemed too late by plenty. Wardley refused to fall, instead being stopped on his feet.

Last night’s no-brainer of a Fight of the Year contender was the kind of fight that both thrilled and disturbed in equal measure. Thankfully, both men are okay today, Wardley having, of course, been taken to the hospital. It seems grossly unfair, even offensive, to be talking about the next fight for either man, Wardley especially. Yet already, fans are indeed asking what might be next. These two warriors deserve a heck of a long rest, as they deserve a mountain of respect and adulation.

In a nutshell, you just do not see too many fights that rank on the savage scale the way the battle in Manchester ranks. Prior to the war, Wardley referred to the way that all fighters must have “a few marbles missing,” with the former white-collar fighter pointing to the fact that, to be a fighter, a man has to be a little crazy. And who of a perfectly sound mind would want to go through what Wardley and Dubois went through last night?

Again, it was a tough watch as well as a thrilling watch. Today, some of us are no doubt feeling a little guilty for having screamed at the TV, or live in the arena, as we were baying for blood and forgetting our civilized selves. Most worthy of feeling guilt, though, should be those people who not once, but twice (or thrice) called Daniel Dubois a quitter with a heart problem. The new WBO heavyweight champion is far from that; Dubois is instead a man with real fighting guts. The same can obviously be said of Wardley.

In the words of Eddie Futch, nobody will ever forget what they saw yesterday.

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