Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley both weigh in at career-heaviest ahead of world title rematch

Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois both weighed in at a career-heaviest as the British heavyweight pair faced off for the final time ahead of their world title rematch.

Wardley is bidding to reclaim his WBO world heavyweight championship, five months on from being dethroned by Dubois in a stunning 11-round war at Manchester’s Co-op Live, succumbing to a first professional defeat after failing to capitalise on two early knockdowns.

Both boxers took to the scales on Friday, with 29-year-old Dubois holding a slight five-pound advantage over Wardley at 253.5lbs. This was nearly two pounds heavier than he weighed for the first fight in May, which was at the time the heaviest he had ever been for a professional bout.

Wardley, meanwhile, also broke his record weight, with the scales reading 248.3lbs ahead of his revenge mission - tacking on more than six pounds in mass compared to the previous outing.

After setting the tone with an intense face-off at the open workouts earlier in the week, Wardley and Dubois squared off one more time before locking horns in the ring at the O2 Arena on Saturday night. There was no inkling of an on-stage fracas, though, with both men building their rivalry on respect.

Wardley continued to stare across to Dubois as “Dynamite” did his interview and spoke with his team following the face-off, until the defending champion made his way off the stage.

“Simply seek and destroy now,” said 31-year-old Wardley at the ceremonial weigh-ins at Old Spitalfields Market in London. “All the talking, all the words, all the fun and games are ticked off. It's laser focus mode until tomorrow night.

“I draw confidence from the first fight. The successes I had, that knockdown in the first round, knockdown the third - all I need to do is capitalise on those moments better. A bit of cleaner performance, get job done, tick him off.

“Nothing left to say. Like I said, everything's all been done this week. There's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of talking, there's nothing left to say. It's a big night coming up. Revenge, Fabio Wardley, knockout win.”

Dubois, who has reiterated throughout the build-up his desire to make quicker business of Wardley this time around, says he’s ready for another “tear-up” after what many feel was the frontrunner for fight of the year in May.

“I know it now. I know what to expect, and I'm just ready to go out there and do my job,” he said.

“I'm ready for whatever comes on Saturday. I'm ready to go at war.”

Ring walks are expected for to be at approximately 10:30pm BST on Saturday night, with the undercard at the O2 kicking off at 7pm BST.