- Simon Jordan backs Wardley by late stoppage at Co-op Live on May 9
- Danger zone for the champion: rounds one to six and Dubois' right hand
- Jordan's read — if Dubois can't land early, the old Joyce/Usyk question marks return
Jordan Lands On Wardley — But With A Warning
Right then. Simon Jordan has had his say on Fabio Wardley versus Daniel Dubois, and for once the talkSPORT pundit isn't sitting on the fence. Jordan is backing the champion at Co-op Live on Saturday — and you can hear the logic clicking into place. It's the same logic Eddie Hearn finally landed on this week: weather the storm, then break Dubois.
What makes Jordan's pick interesting isn't the verdict — it's the warning attached to it. He's not picking Wardley because Dubois is shot, or because the challenger has lost his menace. He's picking Wardley because he believes the late-round version of the Ipswich man is levels above the late-round version of Dubois. That is a very specific call and it requires the champion to survive the early shoot-out.
The Six-Round Window That Decides It
Make no mistake, Jordan is right about where this fight is won and lost. Rounds one to six is Dubois territory. The challenger walks in carrying proper world-class power — the right hand that erased Anthony Joshua, the body work that turned Jarrell Miller into a heap on the canvas. If Wardley fancies trading in the opening third of this fight, Jordan's prediction goes up in smoke and the WBO belt heads back to South London.
The champion knows it. Andy Lee knows it. Wardley's footage of the Frazer Clarke nights tells you everything about the kind of fight this is meant to be — patient, drawing, breaking. Lee won't have his man planted in front of Dubois trying to win a war in round two. Wardley needs to make Dubois reach for the jab, miss with the right, and start asking himself questions by the end of round four.
The Old Dubois Questions — Jordan Refuses To Pretend They've Gone
Here's where Jordan separates himself from the lazier takes this week. He flat-out says it: if Dubois can't find a home for his right hand inside the first four to six rounds, the old psychological ghosts come back. The eye injury that took him out two years ago. The way he went down off an Oleksandr Usyk jab in the first fight. The body language flat-lining once a contest gets uncomfortable.
Let's not beat around the bush — Dubois under Don Charles is a different fighter to the one who folded in those earlier nights. The body shots he's landed on Joshua and Miller in the last 18 months are the work of a brilliant front-foot heavyweight. But Jordan's point is the one nobody on Frank Warren's roster wants to hear: the question marks haven't been answered, they've just been hidden behind one-round wipeouts.
The Tactical Read
Wardley's job is straightforward: clinch when Dubois steps inside, jab on the way out, and chip the body for the first thirty minutes. By round seven the champion can start opening up. Jordan's pick is a stoppage somewhere round nine to eleven — the body breaking down, a clip on the temple, Dubois leaning on the ropes the way he did against Usyk. Class spotted from a mile away.
Our Verdict
Jordan's read is the one that respects what both fighters actually are. Dubois is a brilliant front-foot heavyweight when his right hand is finding leather. Wardley is a proper world-class operator in the second half of any fight he's still standing in. Survive Dubois early, walk him onto something heavy late.
Prediction: Wardley TKO9. Jordan's call is sound, and Boxing Lookout is on it. Manchester gets a war for forty minutes — and the champion gets the finish that announces him as the proper heavyweight he's quietly become.