Dubois shakes off knockdowns and stops Wardley to win WBO heavyweight title

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Daniel Dubois showed up late, got knocked down early and still beat Fabio Wardley to become a two-time heavyweight champion on Saturday.

Dubois stopped Wardley in the 11th round to win the WBO heavyweight title at the Co-op Live arena after reportedly being delayed by traffic on his arrival.

Wardley dropped Dubois (23-3, 22 KOs) just 10 seconds into the bout with an overhand right, and again in the third round, but the former IBF champion rebounded both times and dominated from there by landing heavy rights that produced swelling and bleeding on Wardley's face.

"I know I've got heart, bundles of heart, I'm a warrior in there," said Dubois, whose resolve had been questioned in the past. “What a great fight, what a great battle. I'm No. 1 again.”

Wardley absorbed blow after blow without going down before referee Howard Foster halted the bout early in the 11th.

It’s the first professional loss for Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KOs). He was making his first title defense.

“He's a durable guy... a great warrior," Dubois said. "It was an honor to be in the ring with him.”

Dubois lost his IBF belt to Oleksandr Usyk via a fifth-round knockout at Wembley Stadium last July. It was his second loss to Usyk.

Dubois could be on a collision course with rising star Moses Itauma, who was ringside. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri has said after Itauma’s demolition of Jermaine Franklin he’ll recommend the British southpaw become the WBO mandatory challenger.

Frank Warren, the promoter for both Dubois and Wardley, said in the ring, however, that there's a rematch clause in the contract.

Usyk holds the WBA, WBC and IBF belts. The 39-year-old Ukrainian’s next bout is against former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

London light heavyweight Zak Chelli scored a big upset by stopping Cuban southpaw David Morrell in the 10th round. Chelli (17-3-1, 9 KOs) called out WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez, who also holds titles at cruiserweight. Morrell (12-2, 9 KOs) had gone the distance with Benavidez last year, losing on points after 12 rounds.

Jack Rafferty (27-0-1, 18 KOs) made a successful welterweight debut against 37-year-old Ekow Essuman (22-3, 8 KOs), whose corner retired their fighter after six rounds.

AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing

Britain's Fabio Wardley takes a punch to the face from Britain's Daniel Dubois during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Fabio Wardley walks back to his corner bloodied by Britain's Daniel Dubois during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Daniel Dubois celebrates after beating Britain's Fabio Wardley in a WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Daniel Dubois, right, lands a blow on Britain's Fabio Wardley during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Fabio Wardley Britain's is inspected in a a break against Daniel Dubois during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Daniel Dubois, left, lands a blow on Britain's Fabio Wardley during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Britain's Fabio Wardley, right, swings and tries to connect with Britain's Daniel Dubois during their WBO World Heavyweight boxing title bout in Manchester, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Brandon Lockridge was feeling relieved, even as he stood on crutches and wore a knee brace one day after crashing into a side wall.

The injury that led to him getting carted off the field could have been much worse.

“To be honest, I thought my knee was going to be in 100 pieces,” Lockridge said Saturday after getting placed on the 10-day injured list. “To find out there was no fracture was a relief.”

Lockridge suffered a major laceration and contusion to his right knee after sliding into foul territory in the fourth inning of the Brewers’ 6-0 victory over the New York Yankees as he tried to catch a fly ball hit by Cody Bellinger. Lockridge’s right knee hit the concrete on the bottom section of the wall, below the padding.

“I thought I had more space,” Lockridge said. “I think if it had been a couple of feet to the left of that corner, I felt I would have had a little bit more space to slide. By the time I peeked back and was going into my slide, I realized, ‘That’s not good.’ It just caught the concrete flush.”

The Brewers called up outfielder Blake Perkins from Triple-A Nashville to fill Lockridge's spot on the roster.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said it's too early to give a firm timetable for Lockridge's return, but he guessed that a best-case scenario would have Lockridge miss a month.

“He took a pretty good hit,” Murphy said. “Being on the scene, that was a kid that was injured, you know what I mean? It wasn't like, ‘I just cut my leg.’ If you think about it, it was pretty serious, a pretty hard blow.”

Lockridge has not yet had imaging on the knee.

“We'll wait until Monday to get an MRI just because they said it would light up right now with all the inflammation,” Lockridge said. “We're trying to get that to go down a little bit, and then we'll get an MRI just to make sure everything structurally is good to go.”

Lockridge said the portion of his knee that hit the wall was just above the patellar tendon and just beneath the kneecap.

“Honestly, about as good a spot (as it could be),” Lockridge said. “Just a lot of tissue that it tore through. Higher or lower and it would have been much worse. Very thankful for it.”

The 29-year-old Lockridge, who joined the Brewers at last year's trade deadline, had just 160 career plate appearances before this season. He has capitalized on more playing time this year by hitting .294 with a .368 on-base percentage, no homers, 12 RBIs and five steals in 28 games.

Perkins, who's also 29, returns to the big leagues less than a week after he got sent down. He played 242 games for Milwaukee from 2023-25 while helping the Brewers win three straight NL Central times, but he's been slumping this season.

Perkins entered Saturday hitting .109 with a .212 on-base percentage in 19 games.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Milwaukee Brewers' Brandon Lockridge is looked at by a trainer after suffering an injury during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Friday, May 8, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Brandon Lockridge is carted off the field after suffering an injury during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Friday, May 8, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)