Wardley vs Dubois Seven Days Out: Co-op Live Fight Week Begins

• Wardley defends his WBO heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois on Saturday May 9 at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, live on DAZN
• Open workout Wednesday May 6 at the Great Northern Amphitheatre, final press conference Thursday May 7 at Co-op Live, ceremonial weigh-in Friday May 8 at Boulders Trafford Park
• Wardley has called for a 'firefight' from round one; Dubois arrives looking to rebuild after the Usyk rematch defeat with a fresh camp and a stripped-down approach to fight-week distractions

Right Then — Manchester Is Up Next

Right then, with one eye still on the Tokyo Dome ringwalks and another already pointed towards T-Mobile Arena tonight, the rest of the British fight calendar isn't waiting. Seven days from now Fabio Wardley defends his WBO heavyweight world title against Daniel Dubois at a sold-out Co-op Live in Manchester, and the official fight week schedule kicks off in midweek. Make no mistake — this is the British heavyweight fight of 2026 so far. The build-up has been class. No silly theatre, no manufactured beef, just two heavyweights and their teams clearly stating they fancy themselves and that the other guy is in trouble. Wardley wants a firefight from the bell. Dubois has gone the other way and stripped fight week back to its basics after Frank Warren publicly told him there'd be no party this time round. Levels of focus on both sides.

The Schedule

Wednesday May 6 brings the open workouts at the Great Northern Amphitheatre on Peter Street, doors open to media and public from 5pm. That's where you get the first proper look at fight-week conditioning — pad work, footwork, the bit of theatre where the fighter shows off whatever new wrinkle camp has put in. Wardley's camp under Ben Davison has been famously precise about peaking, so don't expect anything wild on Wednesday. Expect crisp, clean, sharp rounds. Thursday May 7 is the final press conference at Co-op Live itself, doors at 1.30pm for a 2pm start, media-only. That's the last face-to-face before fight night. Friday May 8 is the ceremonial weigh-in at Boulders in Trafford Park — public welcome from 5.30pm, scales hit at 6pm. And Saturday May 9 is the bell. DAZN have it worldwide. The card is stacked behind the main event, with David Morrell, Zak Chelli and Bakhodir Jalolov all on the bill.

Wardley: The Champion in Form

Fabio Wardley turning up to defend a WBO heavyweight world title in front of a Co-op Live crowd is a sentence I'm not sure anyone outside his own camp would have written eighteen months ago. Make no mistake, he's earned it the hard way — the Frazer Clarke war was a fight of the year, the rematch was emphatic, the title fight was emphatic. He's been brilliant. He's been brave. And he's been levels above what people expected. The question for Saturday is whether he can find that same firefight rhythm against a heavier-handed, more experienced opponent in Dubois without getting clipped first. He's been clear in interviews that he doesn't intend to box his way to a points win — he wants to stand and trade. That's either heroically brave or quietly mad. Possibly both. Either way, the crowd are going to love it.

Dubois: The Rebuild

Daniel Dubois is in a different place to where he was eighteen months ago. The Usyk rematch was a hard, public defeat. The way he carried it has actually been a credit to him — no excuses, no theatre, just a quiet rebuild and an honest admission that fight-week distractions cost him. Frank Warren saying out loud that there'll be no party this time was an unusual move from a promoter, but it's clearly intentional. Camp has been stripped back. Family have been kept at arm's length. The fighter has been left to fight. Dubois the puncher is still one of the most dangerous men in the heavyweight division. The jab is real. The right hand is real. The body shot is real. The questions, fairly or unfairly, are about everything that happens after the first time he gets caught flush. If those answers have improved, this fight is closer than the markets currently price it.

The Prediction

Let's not beat around the bush. I have Wardley winning this fight. Not on points. Not on a soft stoppage. I think he wins it inside ten because the work-rate carries the middle rounds and Dubois fades — and once the champion smells the fade, he goes to the body and finishes the job. Wardley by stoppage round eight or nine. But I am not betting against the Dubois right hand landing flush at some point in this fight. If it does, the script flips in three seconds. That's the whole sell. Seven days. Set the alarm twice — once for tonight, once for next Saturday.