MANCHESTER, England — Daniel Dubois has hit back at Fabio Wardley for saying he would be a bin man if he wasn’t a boxer.
Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) was asked what he thought Dubois Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) would do for work if he wasn’t a fighter in a social clip which caused a stir in the build-up to their fight. He replied: “A bin man or something like that.”
The trash talk ramped up between the two at Thursday’s news conference ahead of their WBO heavyweight title clash in Manchester on Saturday, with Dubois calling out his rival’s comment which he regarded as disrespectful.
“By the way Fabio, I heard you called me the [bin man]. I’m going to collect that trash,” Dubois said.
“It’s disrespect, so I’m going to put it right in the ring. I’m going to put it right in the ring. I heard what you said. I’m going to burst his bubble, anyway. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Wardley defended the comment, insisting he meant no disrespect.
“Someone asked me what you might have as a job and I said ‘bin man,'” Wardley told the news conference.
“There was no negative with that. Don’t let other people get in your head and tell you what it comes across as. You didn’t hear what I said, you don’t run your own social media. You let other people talk to you … It wasn’t like that. I didn’t say it was a bad job.”
Asked if he was “rattled,” Dubois said: “Not at all. I love this fight. I’m 100% ready.”
Wardley replied sarcastically: “Not at all. He’s cool as a cucumber. Look at him, he’s chilled.”
With 40 knockouts between them, the pair are expected to produce an action-packed clash in what promoter Frank Warren predicts will be a fight of the year candidate.
“This is sold out. It’s a brilliant fight. It should sell out,” Warren told ESPN. “It’s two guys in their prime, it’s not like an old guy fighting a young guy on the way up, and one’s on the way down.”
WBO champion Wardley is yet to defend his title having not won it in the ring. He was elevated to full champion in November after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt.
Dubois is coming off a defeat to Usyk last summer, the third loss in his career, but is bidding to become a two-time heavyweight champion.
“The pair of them, they’ve got a lot to prove,” Warren added.
“They’ve got a similar style in the sense they both walk forward, they’re punchers … As soon as that bell goes, you’re going to get fireworks.”
