Queensberry Promotions have laid down their marker for the back end of the year, rolling out a three‑event run that leans on jeopardy, revenge and a touch of bad blood.
At the top of the pile sits the heavyweight rematch everyone expected – and most wanted.
Dubois vs Wardley 2: Heavyweight grudges at the O2
Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley will run it back on Saturday, October 17, at London’s O2 Arena, with the WBO heavyweight title on the line and the memory of their brutal first encounter still fresh.
Dubois (23-3, 22 KO) stopped Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KO) in the 11th round on May 9 in Manchester, a savage, seesaw war that left both men marked up and the division on notice. It was the kind of fight that changes careers. One man left with the belt. Both left with questions.
They met again in the ring to announce the rematch, stealing some of the spotlight from the Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic main event. Frank Warren didn’t need to sell this one hard. The scars from the first fight do that job.
Dubois, never one for flowery build‑up, kept it blunt.
"It'll be another dominant victory and amazing performance. I can't wait. Yeah. Let's get it on," he said, the words simple but the intent unmistakable.
Asked about cutting out the mistakes that dragged him into deep water last time, he shrugged off the idea of playing safe.
"When you get in the water, you're gonna get wet," he said. "I love every bit of it. I can't wait for it."
Wardley, beaten but not broken in May, sounded like a man who has replayed every second of that night and circled October 17 in red.
"The O2 is like a home away from home for me, so doing the fight back here will be special," he said. "I'm just looking forward to getting straight back into it. It's going to be a rematch, and it's going to be revenge.
"We came into that fight with all the confidence in the world, but adjustments need to be made. And I've proven time and time again — you look at (my fights) with Frazer (Clarke), the adjustments I made, or the Justis Huni performance into the Joseph Parker performance. I've proven I'm adaptable and I can change. That's what we need to do for this fight."
Dubois cut across the talk of tweaks and tactics with a line that snapped the room back to what this really is.
"We'll see. Give me some of that face-to-face shit, boy."
He got it. The two locked eyes, heads close, jaws set, the kind of stare‑down that sells a fight without a single extra word.
Dubois vs Wardley 2 will stream on DAZN and is expected to land on pay-per-view or the platform’s Ultimate tier. On this schedule, it’s the clear centrepiece.
Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2: Business, not pleasure
If Dubois–Wardley is raw emotion, Joshua Buatsi vs Willy Hutchinson 2 is something colder: unfinished business.
The light heavyweights meet again on November 7 in Manchester, two years on from a tight, gritty contest that Buatsi edged by split decision. That first fight didn’t dominate the headlines, but it did divide opinion. Buatsi (20-1, 13 KO) scored two knockdowns and Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KO) lost a point in the seventh, yet plenty at ringside felt the Scot had done enough.
This time, there’s more on the line. The rematch comes with the interim WBC 175 lb title attached, a belt that suddenly turns a grudge into a gateway.
Buatsi didn’t pretend this was the fight he’d been dreaming of.
"This is what was put in front of me. He said we were gonna run it back two years ago, so here we are, man," he said. "Something's at stake. If nothing was at stake, I wouldn't be here."
It was as honest as it was telling. For Buatsi, this is obligation wrapped in opportunity.
Hutchinson’s view is different. For him, this is the chance he’s been chasing since the first scorecards were read.
"I'm very, very excited. This has took two years to get here, and now we're here again," he said. "I told him two years ago after the fight, 'I'm gonna get ya,' and now we're here. I'm gonna win. Simple."
No theatrics. Just a promise, delivered with the conviction of a man who still thinks he was robbed of his moment.
Cacace vs Ball: Respect, risk and a Belfast cauldron
Queensberry close the year on December 19 in Belfast, where Anthony Cacace will defend his WBA super featherweight title against Nick Ball in what might quietly be the pick of the bunch.
Cacace (25-1, 9 KO) lifted the WBA 130 lb belt from Jazza Dickens on March 14 and now walks into a dangerous first defence. Ball (23-1-1, 13 KO) comes up from featherweight after losing his WBA title to Brandon Figueroa by 12th‑round TKO on February 7 in Liverpool, a punishing fight that showed both his heart and his vulnerabilities.
The respect between the pair cut through the usual noise.
"Nick's a great fighter, an ex-world champion, he's beaten them all. I expect a good scrap. He's a hard man. Let's do it," Cacace said.
Ball, stepping into a new division with a belt in his sights, kept it just as straightforward.
"It's a massive opportunity at a new weight," he said. "He's a solid champion, it's going to be a good fight."
No insults. No pushing or pointing. Just two men who know exactly how hard the other hits and are prepared to find out who breaks first in front of a Belfast crowd that rarely sits down.
All three main events will air on DAZN, each carrying its own storyline: heavyweight revenge in London, a disputed verdict revisited in Manchester, and a simmering title fight in Belfast that could steal the show.
By Christmas, we’ll know which careers have been rebuilt, which grudges settled, and which champions are ready to step out of Queensberry’s stable and into the sport’s top tier.
