And Dubois wants the chance to prove it in a third fight with Ring champion Oleksandr Usyk before the Ukrainian retires from the sport.

London’s Dubois (24-3, 23 KOs), The Ring’s No. 1 contender for Usyk’s title, made quick work of Wardley, dropping him in the first and then stopping him in the second of a breathless victory at O2 Arena. It was his second successive stoppage win over Wardley (20-2-1, 19 KOs) after his 11th-round win May 9 in Manchester.

Dubois believes he had already done the damage in their first fight.

“You could say he had a lot of mental scars,” Dubois said. “So, I just had to go and take him back to that place. It’s a memory isn’t it?”

So, too, are Dubois’ two stoppage defeats at the hands of Usyk. He lost in the ninth round when they met in Wroclaw, Poland in August 2023 and then in the fifth of their July 2025 rematch at Wembley Stadium.

But the 29-year-old Dubois believes he has evolved since then and is now capable of handing Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) his first professional defeat.

“I’d love to fight him again,” he said. “We’re coming out on top this time. We’ve made our mistakes, but we are coming out on top this time. I’m a different fighter.

“There’s not a heavyweight in the world that could have taken those punches tonight. Fabio has got a great chin, he’s known for taking punishment, but I was going through him with those punches. I even had to pull myself back at times and reset.”

Usyk has boxed only once since his second victory over Dubois. He stopped Rico Verhoeven in the 11th round of their competitive clash May 23 in Giza, Egypt. The 39-year-old former fully unified champion says he will likely only box once more.

With fights against David Benavidez or even a trilogy with Tyson Fury understood to be under consideration, Dubois might not get his chance to make it third time lucky against Usyk.

Therefore, a unification with one of the other sanctioning body champions could be more realistic. When asked which of those the WBO champ would like to face next, Dubois said, “I’ve heard talk about [WBC champion] Agit Kabayel, but I’ll just fight whoever is next in line … whoever pays the most cash.”

There is a strong argument that Dubois has now proven himself as the biggest puncher in boxing. Dubois has ended 96 percent of his victories and 85 percent of his fights overall by knockout.

But it was the speed of the finish which was most impressive, given how long it took him to see off Wardley last time. It was Dubois’ earliest victory since he stopped Joe Cusumano in the first round of their clash in August 2021, more than five years ago.

“I was more focused than I was in May, big-time,” Dubois said. “It was go-time from the minute I put my gear on. Maybe the warmup was more extensive than usual, but I was just in the zone quicker. Everyone was saying Fabio was going to start fast,’ so I was ready for him. I can’t say I expected it to be that quick, I was just prepared for a war.

“Whatever he did wasn’t going to affect me, not his punches or anything. I was just going to go after him. The fast start wasn’t deliberate, it just happened. In the changing room I was so on it, I wasn’t going to be denied, I refused to lose. My dad said second round earlier today, so I just thought, ‘Yes sir.’ ”