Queensberry Winter Schedule: Dubois–Wardley 2 Headlines Exciting Events
Queensberry Promotions have laid out their winter plan, and it’s an aggressive one. Three months, three main events, three divisions, all funneling through DAZN and all carrying real jeopardy.
At the top of the pile sits the heavyweight grudge match: Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley 2, on Saturday, October 17, at the O2 Arena in London. Behind it, a simmering light heavyweight score to settle between Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson in Manchester on November 7. Then, just before Christmas, Anthony Cacace returns to Belfast on December 19 to defend his WBA super featherweight title against Nick Ball.
No tune‑ups. No soft landings. Just fights with consequences.
Dubois vs Wardley 2: Heavyweight fire back at the O2
The O2 has seen its share of heavyweight drama. Dubois vs Wardley 2 promises more of the same, only nastier.
Dubois (23-3, 22 KO) and Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KO) were brought together in the ring ahead of Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic to confirm what everyone expected after May 9 in Manchester: that their brutal first meeting demanded a sequel. Dubois ended that one with an 11th-round TKO in a savage, momentum-swinging war.
He has no intention of easing off.
“It’ll be another dominant victory and amazing performance. I can’t wait. Yeah. Let’s get it on,” Dubois said, delivering the words with the same flat menace that has become his trademark.
He was asked about ironing out the mistakes from the first fight. He didn’t bother pretending he wanted a safer night.
“When you get in the water, you’re gonna get wet,” he said. “I love every bit of it. I can’t wait for it.”
Wardley, beaten and bloodied last time, isn’t coming back to play the role of noble loser. He’s coming back to flip the script, and he’ll do it in a building that feels like his own.
“The O2 is like a home away from home for me, so doing the fight back here will be special,” Wardley said. “I’m just looking forward to getting straight back into it. It’s going to be a rematch, and it’s going to be revenge.”
He pointed to his track record of adapting under fire.
“We came into that fight with all the confidence in the world, but adjustments need to be made. And I’ve proven time and time again — you look at (my fights) with Frazer (Clarke), the adjustments I made, or the Justis Huni performance into the Joseph Parker performance. I’ve proven I’m adaptable and I can change. That’s what we need to do for this fight.”
Dubois didn’t bother with the technical talk.
“We’ll see. Give me some of that face-to-face shit, boy.”
They obliged. No shoving, no wild theatrics, just a long, hostile stare that said more than any scripted soundbite. Heavyweight rematches sell themselves when the first fight leaves scars. This one did.
The bout will stream on DAZN, with Dubois vs Wardley 2 set apart from the rest of the schedule and likely landing as a pay-per-view or Ultimate tier event. It’s the centerpiece of Queensberry’s run, and it looks like it.
Buatsi vs Hutchinson 2: Business, not pleasure
If Dubois–Wardley is raw emotion, Joshua Buatsi vs Willy Hutchinson 2 is something colder: unfinished business with a belt attached.
Their first meeting, in September 2024, didn’t dominate the headlines but it delivered. Buatsi (20-1, 13 KO) edged it by split decision in a tight, often scrappy fight. Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KO) was dropped twice and docked a point in the seventh, yet many at ringside still felt he’d done enough.
Now they run it back on November 7 in Manchester, this time with the interim WBC 175 lb title on the line.
Buatsi didn’t pretend this was his dream assignment.
“This is what was put in front of me. He said we were gonna run it back two years ago, so here we are, man,” he said. “Something’s at stake. If nothing was at stake, I wouldn’t be here.”
That’s Buatsi in a sentence: pragmatic, focused, not easily drawn into the theatre. A belt changes everything. So does a rival who refuses to accept the first result.
Hutchinson has been waiting for this.
“I’m very, very excited. This has took two years to get here, and now we’re here again,” he said. “I told him two years ago after the fight, ‘I’m gonna get ya,’ and now we’re here. I’m gonna win. Simple.”
No need for trash talk. The narrative is baked in. One man thinks he did enough the first time and got burned by the knockdowns and the point deduction. The other believes the belt validates the risk of revisiting a dangerous, awkward opponent.
With an interim WBC strap on offer, the rematch isn’t just about pride; it’s a direct line into the title picture at 175 lb. That’s why Buatsi is back. That’s why Hutchinson sounds like he’s been circling this date for two years.
Cacace vs Ball: Belfast’s slow-burn classic in the making
On December 19 in Belfast, Anthony Cacace gets the homecoming he earned in March.
Cacace (25-1, 9 KO) captured the WBA 130 lb title from Jazza Dickens on March 14. Now he defends it against Nick Ball (23-1-1, 13 KO), the former WBA featherweight titleholder who saw his own belt ripped away by Brandon Figueroa via 12th-round TKO on February 7 in Liverpool.
This is Ball’s jump to a new weight and a second shot at world glory. It’s also Cacace’s chance to plant his flag as a real force at 130 lb in front of a Belfast crowd that knows how to turn a title defence into an occasion.
“Nick’s a great fighter, an ex-world champion, he’s beaten them all. I expect a good scrap. He’s a hard man. Let’s do it,” Cacace said, stripped of any pretense, just a champion who knows he’s in for a night.
Ball understands the size of the moment.
“It’s a massive opportunity at a new weight,” he said. “He’s a solid champion, it’s going to be a good fight.”
No insults. No manufactured animosity. Just two hardened pros who know exactly what the other brings. It might be the quietest build-up of the three, but it could be the most complete fight: a pressure man moving up, a composed champion defending what he’s just won, and a Belfast arena that tends to roar from the first bell.
Three months, three rematches and one hungry ex-champion moving up in weight. Heavyweights looking for revenge, light heavyweights chasing a WBC route, and a super featherweight champion trying to hold off a relentless challenger.
Queensberry haven’t just filled the calendar. They’ve set up a winter where careers can swing on a single night.
