Queensberry Winter Schedule: Dubois–Wardley Rematch and More
Queensberry Promotions have rolled out a bruising three-month schedule to close the year, anchored by a heavyweight grudge rematch and backed up by two more high-stakes return bouts.
Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley run it back for the WBO heavyweight title on Saturday, October 17 at the O2 Arena in London, the first of three main events that will all stream on DAZN. Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson renew hostilities on November 7 in Manchester, before Anthony Cacace defends his WBA super featherweight crown against Nick Ball on December 19 in Belfast.
Dubois vs Wardley 2: Brutality, revisited
This is the one that moves the needle.
Dubois (23-3, 22 KO) and Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KO) met in the ring ahead of the Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic main event to confirm what everyone expected: the heavyweight war they shared on May 9 in Manchester was never going to be a one-off.
Dubois ended that first fight with an 11th-round TKO, dragging Wardley into deep water and finally drowning him in it. He clearly liked the feeling.
"It'll be another dominant victory and amazing performance. I can't wait. Yeah. Let's get it on," he said, as matter-of-fact as ever. Asked about cutting out the mistakes from the first fight, he barely blinked.
"When you get in the water, you're gonna get wet. I love every bit of it. I can't wait for it."
Wardley, beaten but not broken in May, gets home comforts this time. The O2 has seen Dubois grow up under the lights, but Wardley sees it as his own stage for revenge.
"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 wasn’t interested in the technical breakdown.
"We'll see. Give me some of that face-to-face shit, boy."
They obliged. No shoving, no wild antics, just a long, hard stare that said the talking is done. For Queensberry, this is the clear centrepiece of the schedule, and with Dubois vs Wardley 2 likely set as a pay-per-view or Ultimate tier bout on DAZN, it will be sold as such.
Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2: unfinished business at 175
The light heavyweights don’t bring the same heavyweight chaos, but they bring jeopardy.
Joshua Buatsi (20-1, 13 KO) and Willy Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KO) shared a tight, tactical fight in September 2024, one Buatsi edged by split decision. It didn’t spark mass outrage, yet a sizeable section of observers felt Hutchinson had done enough, even with two knockdowns against him and a point deduction in the seventh.
This time there’s more on the line: the interim WBC 175 lb title.
Buatsi spoke like a man who understands the business as much as the belt.
"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."
Hutchinson’s tone was different. For him, this is a promise being cashed in.
"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."
The first meeting was about proving they belonged at this level. The second is about proving who stays there.
Cacace vs Ball: respect, risk and a Belfast cauldron
If Dubois–Wardley is the spectacle and Buatsi–Hutchinson is the argument, Anthony Cacace vs Nick Ball might quietly be the best fight of the lot.
Cacace (25-1, 9 KO) defends the WBA 130 lb title he ripped from Jazza Dickens on March 14. Ball (23-1-1, 13 KO) steps up from featherweight, still carrying the scars of his February 7 defeat in Liverpool, where Brandon Figueroa stopped him in the 12th round to take the WBA featherweight belt.
This is Ball’s response: a move up in weight, straight into another world-title fire.
"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, stripped-back and sincere.
Ball matched that tone.
"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 cheap shots. Just two men willing to risk everything in what could be a ferocious night in Belfast, with a partisan crowd howling for every exchange.
Three rematches. Three different tones. One clear message from Queensberry: the end of the year won’t drift quietly into the calendar. It’s going to be settled with gloves, grudges and gold on the line.
