Carl Froch has maintained his knockout prediction for Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois, which promises to be an all-action shootout between two monstrous punchers.
The pair will square off for Wardley’s WBO heavyweight title on May 9, headlining a Queensberry Promotions card at Manchester’s Co-op Live.
Prior to becoming a world champion, Wardley had claimed a career-best victory over Joseph Parker, who entered their clash as a sizable favourite before suffering an 11th-round stoppage defeat last October.
Subsequently, the Ipswich man was elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion after Oleksandr Usyk opted to vacate the belt, rather than fulfil his mandatory obligation.
This came several months after the Ukrainian’s fifth-round finish over Dubois, who was relieved of his IBF title in their rematch last July.
Before that, ‘Dynamite’ had found himself on a ruthless run of stoppages over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua, but could ultimately find no answer to the technical brilliance of Usyk.
Based on his experience against the masterful southpaw, though, Hall of Famer Froch believes Dubois should have no problem figuring out the largely unorthodox style of Wardley.
In fact, the former world super-middleweight champion has told NewBettingSites.uk that the 28-year-old – who he has named favourite since their fight was announced – is poised to win in dramatic fashion.
“Daniel Dubois wins the fight by a knockout. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wardley, who’s got a big punch, who’s never been beaten, wins, but I just think that the power and the experience at world level of Dubois will be too much.
“Look what he did to ‘AJ’. And he’s been in there with Usyk as well, so he’s learned a lot from those fights. I feel like Fabio Wardley doesn’t belong in the ring at that level, but he’s proved us wrong time and time again.”
Despite Dubois’ experience, he has ultimately been made a slight underdog against Wardley, whose previous stoppages have come against the likes of Justis Huni and Frazer Clarke.