Daniel Dubois has been accused of being a “fake champion”, despite defending his WBO title with a second-round finish over Fabio Wardley earlier this month.

The 29-year-old had become a two-time world heavyweight champion in May, scoring an 11th-round stoppage of Wardley after surviving two early knockdowns.

Then, in their rematch, it was Dubois, this time, who floored his man within the first 20 seconds of round one, before inspiring Ben Davison, Wardley’s trainer, to throw in the towel.

Prior to their first encounter, Wardley had been upgraded from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion after Oleksandr Usyk decided to vacate his belt.

As a result, some labelled him as an ‘email champion’ – given that he had not won his title in the ring – while others gave him credit for scoring an 11th-round finish over Joseph Parker in his previous outing.

Filip Hrgovic, meanwhile, has told Ariel Helwani that he believes Dubois, by extension of beating Wardley, is not heavyweight champion material.

“He’s fake champion because he beat fake champion Fabio Wardley. Fabio Wardley shouldn’t [have won] against Parker – he was losing the fight and I think it was big robbery, so he was fake champion. When you beat fake champion, you’re fake champion as well.”

Following his IBF title-winning ninth-round stoppage of Moses Itauma in August, Hrgovic is eager to face Dubois in a unification match next year.

And despite losing their first encounter by eighth-round stoppage – due to cuts – in June 2024, the Croatian believes their contest would be far less competitive in 2027.

“I think I will destroy him. Even in that first fight … like I said, I was sick – seven days before the fight, I couldn’t walk. I was in my bed.

“I was [also] cut in sparring; I lost a few weeks of sparring. I was all over the place; I underestimated him [Dubois]. I thought it was going to be easy night for me.”

Hrgovic went on to say that, despite his illness, and being cut over both eyes, he felt he was beating Dubois prior to getting stopped in round eight.