Throughout much of the nine-year professional career of heavyweight Daniel Dubois, his best was rarely good enough to please the boxing establishment.

He was labeled as chinny after a 2020 stoppage loss to Joe Joyce. His fortitude was questioned after his first defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk, in 2023. Even after Dubois knockouts of Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua, nothing short of a win over Usyk in last July’s rematch would have satisfied the cognoscenti – and we all know how that turned out. Critics accused Dubois of quitting, questioning his heart and focus in the aftermath (and ever since).

But on Saturday in Manchester, England, Dubois answered every doubt and every question as definitively as any fighter can – with a knockout victory against an undefeated titleholder – in a win over Fabio Wardley before an audience of 18,000-plus at the Co-op Live arena.

When the Londoner Dubois, 22-3 (20 KOs), was dropped in the first and third rounds, all the predictable alarm bells were sounded. But after rising to his feet on both occasions, battling back into the fight and, late in the 11th round, bloodying and battering Wardley until referee Howard Foster intervened, Dubois in the end would not be denied.

“Thank God for a great fight, thank Fabio for being an absolute warrior,” Dubois said in the postfight press conference. “What a fight we had, and what a warrior he is. Came through that test, you know, coming off the back of a loss, so I was a bit nervy to start off with and a bit all over the place. But I pulled it together and got the victory I wanted.”

The win was vindication not only for Dubois but also for trainer Don Charles, from whom the fighter separated after the second Usyk loss but reunited in time for a full camp together ahead of the Wardley showdown. It was Charles’ tough-love approach – slapping Dubois after each of the early knockdowns Saturday – that Dubois credited for snapping him into the necessary mindset.

“Yeah, I needed that slap just to wake up, you know, to stay in reality,” he said. “Not slipping. You know, I [had to] dig deep. As a warrior, you have to dig deep. Gotta go to that dark place and come out on top.”

Dubois’ team was effusive in its praise of the fighter in the moments after – particularly Charles, who took an aggressively protective tone.

“No human being on the planet could ever question this kid ever again,” Charles said. “Certainly don't question him in front of me, yeah? What he showed tonight, he erased any doubt, all the negative talk.

“It's almost like, I'm glad the fight went that way. You know why? So he could demonstrate this quitting narrative is not [accurate]. We know he's not, the people around him know he’s not. I think he ticks every box.”

Dubois himself seemed validated by the act of walking through the fire and coming out the other side – not unscathed, but a winner nonetheless.

“What Wardley is, he's a tough cookie,” Dubois said. “He took my shots and just tested me in that fight. I had to come through my inner battle after coming off the back of a loss, so I was a bit nervy in there. But what a warrior. I’m honored to share the ring with a fighter like that.”

Because this is boxing, talk will immediately turn to what’s next for Dubois, who promised to “go on another good run.” And with Usyk and the heavyweight old guard aging out and Dubois having gotten his groove back, who’s to say he won’t? But first, as he said:

“I need a nice rest.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.