{"id":464115,"date":"2026-03-08T11:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/464115\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T11:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:10:09","slug":"daniel-dubois-makes-announcement-about-his-personal-life-as-fabio-wardley-showdown-creeps-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/464115\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Dubois makes announcement about his personal life as Fabio Wardley showdown creeps closer"},"content":{"rendered":"

British heavyweight Daniel Dubois has disclosed that fatherhood is fuelling his determination as he prepares for his showdown with domestic rival Fabio Wardley in Manchester this May.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Londoner, known for keeping his private life under wraps, confirmed he is now a father to a son named Zion with his partner Raissa. The couple will mark their child’s first birthday later this month.<\/p>\n

“My Zion, yes, that’s it it’s all good!” Dubois told The Sun after announcing he’s become a father.<\/p>\n

“I have my boy now, he adds to my armoury. He’s motivating me for this, even more so now.”<\/p>\n

The fighter expressed his ambition to serve as an inspiration for his son, stating: “I can be someone for him to look up to when he comes of age.”<\/p>\n

Dubois reflected on how his new role as a father carries particular significance given his pre-fight banter during his 2023 Saudi Arabia bout against American Jarrell Miller.<\/p>\n

The Londoner had taunted Miller, who goes by the nickname Big Baby, by declaring himself the opponent’s “daddy” before going on to defeat him convincingly in the ring.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Daniel Dubois will fight Fabio Wardley in May<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

“I went into the Jarrell Miller fight telling him I was his daddy,” Dubois recalled.<\/p>\n

“But now I am ‘The Daddy’. Funny how life goes sometimes.”<\/p>\n

The 17-stone fighter, who despite his imposing physical presence often comes across as unassuming in a demanding sport, now finds that his previous trash talk has transformed into genuine reality.<\/p>\n

\"BoxingFive facts about boxing that fans might not know | GBNEWS\/PA<\/p>\n

At the press conference announcing the May clash, Dubois refused to accept Wardley’s offered handshake on stage, though he insists this was not mere theatrics for the cameras.<\/p>\n

“I was trying to mug him off!” he explained.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t that at all the back-and-forth was good. But we have a date now to hurt each other. We can just be friends after the fight.”<\/p>\n

Dubois views the confrontation through a pragmatic lens, describing boxing as a unique combination of competition and commerce.<\/p>\n

“This is a sport and a business. It’s a gladiator-sport-business all rolled into one,” he said, suggesting any animosity between the pair is strictly professional rather than personal.<\/p>\n

The two British heavyweights share a history that predates their current rivalry, having crossed paths early in their respective careers.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Daniel Dubois hasn’t fought since losing to Oleksandr Usyk last year<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

Their backgrounds could hardly be more different. Dubois was identified as a future star when he was just nine years old, whilst Wardley only took up boxing seriously in his twenties after working in recruitment as a hobby fighter.<\/p>\n

The pair traded blows in sparring sessions around the time of their 2017 professional debuts, encounters that Dubois acknowledges were fierce.<\/p>\n

“He gave me good rounds back then. He was a game fighter even then, he’s always been that way,” Dubois said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve both come on so much. So now we do it under the bright lights.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British heavyweight Daniel Dubois has disclosed that fatherhood is fuelling his determination as he prepares for his showdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,50,2331,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-464115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}