- Wardley vs Dubois at Co-op Live Manchester — WBO heavyweight title, the all-British pick of the night
- Angelo Leo vs Ra'eese Aleem at Gateway Center Atlanta — IBF featherweight defence, sneakily competitive
- Mosley Jr vs Bohachuk at Meta Apex Las Vegas — Zuffa Boxing 6 main event, Sunday US sleeper
Right then. May 9 is a proper Saturday for boxing. Three nights from now we get a heavyweight world title fight in Manchester, an IBF featherweight defence in Atlanta, and a 10-round middleweight crossroads in Las Vegas to round it off. Make no mistake — if you're a fight fan, this weekend earns the licence fee. Three belts, three stories, three verdicts. Let's get into it.
Wardley vs Dubois — Manchester, WBO Heavyweight
The headline act. Fabio Wardley defends his WBO heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois at Co-op Live Manchester, live on DAZN PPV at £24.99 — and that's actually a fair price for the depth of the card. Wardley elevated to full champion after his stoppage win over Joseph Parker, and this is his first defence proper. Dubois comes back from the Usyk loss looking to reclaim a major belt and rejoin the heavyweight conversation.
The stylistic read here is simple. Wardley has the better hand speed, the better timing, and the cleaner boxing brain. Dubois has the bigger single-shot power and the experience of fighting at the absolute top level. The Triple D camp will want a phone-booth fight where they can land that right hand. Wardley wants distance, angles, and combinations. He gets them, in my view, because Dubois has shown he doesn't track movement well. My pick: Wardley by stoppage, late. He announces himself as a proper world champion.
Leo vs Aleem — Atlanta, IBF Featherweight
Don't sleep on this one. Angelo Leo (26-1, 12 KOs) defends his IBF featherweight title against Ra'eese Aleem (23-1, 12 KOs) at the Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta, live on DAZN. They've sparred before. They know each other. And both men have one loss — Leo to Stephen Fulton, Aleem to Sam Goodman in the Inoue eliminator — which means both are fighting like the title is the whole career.
Leo's the cleaner technical boxer with the better feet. Aleem is the volume puncher with the busier handspeed and the chip-on-shoulder character. This is closer than the casuals will think going in. My pick: Leo by majority decision. Distance management and tactical discipline carry him through — but if Aleem catches him properly in the middle rounds, the upset's there.
Mosley Jr vs Bohachuk — Vegas, Zuffa Boxing 6
The Sunday-night closer of the weekend. Shane Mosley Jr (22-5, 12 KOs) takes on Serhii Bohachuk (27-3, 24 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight at the Meta Apex on Paramount+. Different vibe entirely. Mosley Jr's coming off a tough decision loss in December and trying to reset at 35. Bohachuk just edged a split decision and is hunting another big middleweight name to put on the ledger.
Bohachuk's pressure-volume style versus Mosley's reach and counter-punching. The Ukrainian has chopped down quality opposition with sustained body work and is exactly the style of fight that punishes Mosley if his legs aren't where they were. But Mosley's still got a proper boxing brain and his win over Daniel Jacobs reminds you he's not a club fighter. My pick: Bohachuk by stoppage, rounds 8-10. Pressure wears Mosley down. The body shots compound. The closing rounds become a question of survival.
The Wider Picture
What May 9 tells you is that boxing in 2026 is in a quietly brilliant moment. Three different cards, three broadcasters, three real fights with real stakes. Compare that to where we were two or three years ago — droughts, pull-outs, undercards stacked with mismatches. This weekend's the kind of Saturday that pulls casuals back. If you know, you know.
Set the alarm. Stack the snacks. And maybe pace yourself for the Sunday Vegas closer. It's a long old day if you commit properly.