The former trainer of Daniel Dubois, Shane McGuigan, today explained why his former charge is going to run into serious trouble when he challenges Fabio Wardley for the WBO heavyweight title on May 9.

Dubois, 22-3 (21 KOs), worked with McGuigan for four fights (stoppage victories over Bogdan Dinu, Joe Cusumano, Trevor Bryan and Keven Lerena) before they parted company in 2023 ahead of Dubois' first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois' form since has for the most part been impressive. While training under Don Charles, Dubois lost to Usyk before going on a destructive run - stopping Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua - that saw him rejuvenate both his career and his reputation. However, he went on to lose a rematch with Usyk in his most recent action, last July.

The 20-0-1 (19 KOs) Wardley, like Dubois, is one of the division's premier knockout artists. However, he can be outboxed for significant chunks of his fights. Frazer Clarke held him to a 12-round draw (before being blasted to a one-round defeat in the immediate rematch) and both Justis Huni and Joseph Parker were leading on the cards at the time of being stopped late by the Englishman.

McGuigan, who still works with Daniel's sister Caroline Dubois, outlined what kind of fight it's likely to be at Manchester's Co-op Live arena while also revealing how easy it could be for Dubois - if he only listened to instructions. 

"I think it benefits Fabio Wardley if they're having a shootout," McGuigan told Sky Sports.

"I could be sat right in front of Daniel and tell him, 'box his ears off and just use your jab', because Daniel has the fundamentals. He's got the feet, he's got great balance, he's an amazing athlete, he's got a phenomenal jab which is more powerful than his right hand; it's ridiculous, it's like a horse hitting you every time. But he will not listen. Tell him to just use his jab and make it boring. [He will then think] 'I'm going to go for it.' That's the truth.

"The biggest problem with this fight is Daniel's mindset. If he can get it into his head that he has to box and make it, not boring, but just win it on the jab, he wins the fight very comfortably. But he will not; he will go straight for him and that means he'll either knock him out or get knocked out."