COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS

ON SATURDAY NIGHT, at London’s famous o2 Arena, we are set to witness a classic heavyweight edition of Repeat or Revenge.

Such a tag doesn’t really do the prospect of seeing Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley going at it hammer and tongs again justice. Back in May we saw, in the opinion of many, one of the best heavyweight encounters in living memory.

It was just special, the absolute best of heavyweight boxing.

If it wasn’t contracted with Wardley calling in the clause within days of taking a first career loss, we would probably be seeing this fight anyway by public demand.

This is must-see sporting theatre and, don’t forget, this is our heavyweight era that younger generations will be looking back to pass judgement on and make comparisons for many a long year ahead.

We are at a point in heavyweight history where new stories are there to be written. With the inevitable departure from the scene of Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua over the next year or two at most, the heavyweight division has been presented with pretty much a blank canvas.

Usyk taking a step back opened up all the title doors and the likes of Dubois, Wardley, Agit Kabayel, Murat Gassiev and Filip Hrgovic have happily walked through to stake their claims for greatness.

Should he win on Saturday, Wardley will join Dubois, Fury and Joshua in the record books as being a two-time world champion. It is not the way he would have chosen to pick up the accolade, but it will look good in the history books nonetheless.

Dubois has now proudly held the WBA Regular – if you choose to count it – plus the IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles. You could make an argument that he is currently The Man of the division, with his title successes and triumphs over the likes of the previously unbeaten Jarrell Miller, Hrgovic and Wardley, along with Joshua.

A welcome aspect of this new unfolding heavyweight era is that it is largely shaping up on British soil.

Saturday will be the third world heavyweight championship event to be staged in the UK so far this year. And then we’ve got Fury and Joshua finally coming to blows in December.

But for excitement and real edge of your seat drama, nothing will come close to delivering the thrills in the way Dubois and Wardley will at The o2 on Saturday.

When two mighty punchers collide, anything can happen and probably will.