It took little more than one round of heavyweight fighting on Saturday to see a repeat of the result Daniel Dubois scored over Fabio Wardley five months ago.
Back in May, Dubois had to climb off the canvas twice before bludgeoning Wardley so resoundingly it became a painful, awkward watch. But in the rematch at the O2 Arena in London, victory came even easier as Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight championship in style, knocking Wardley down in the first round, and stopping him for good in the second.
After the fight Queensberry Promotions founder Frank Warren marveled at Dubois, who he said completed a "seek and destroy mission."
"I was prepared for a war," Dubois said in the post-fight press conference. "Whatever he did wasn't going to affect me. His punches, or anything. I was going to go right through him. I was in the zone. I refused to lose."
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Such was Dubois's dominance that he limited Wardley to a single landed punch in the first round, and just three in the second, for a pitiful accuracy of 15% (4-of-27) — a far cry from the better work Wardley did in the first fight, when he connected with 27% of his 358 punches.
Wardley was never in the fight Saturday, and many involved in the event appear to know why.
"You could see a lot of mental scars on him [from the first fight]," Dubois said. "I just had to bring him back to that place."
Speaking after Wardley's corner threw in the white towel, Warren called the former champion "powerful", "brave", and a "warrior." But not everyone left the arena impressed.
"I think [Wardley] should retire," the IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic told reporters. "He didn't look good. He made a bunch of money, he did a miracle, and he became a world champion … [but] he should retire and enjoy [life]."
Hrgovic echoed Dubois' remarks on the DAZN post-show, stating a belief that Wardley came back too soon following his destructive May loss.
Wardley, though, isn't contemplating retirement. Instead, he's looking at Dubois, the man who destroyed him, for inspiration.
Six years ago, Dubois was counted out when he was perceived to have quit in his fight against Joe Joyce, losing by 10th round knockout after taking a knee. Dubois' only losses since then have been to Oleksandr Usyk; he counts knockouts over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua among his wins.
"Preparation, for me, wasn't ideal," Wardley told DAZN as he left the ring. "And Daniel learned the most from the first fight and came out with a better game plan. That's all it was. I lost. It is what it is."
Wardley continued: "Daniel is a testament to losing, coming back, and winning the world title for a second time. And I'll be looking to do the same thing."
Reacting to Wardley using his own journey as motivation, Dubois finished: "I know who I am, and I refuse to give up. The warrior's mentality is always to come back. Try again. Try harder.
"Whether he does that, we'll see."