Daniel Dubois sheds "quitter" label after climbing off canvas to stop Fabio Wardley

Daniel Dubois stopped Fabio Wardley in the penultimate round after climbing off the canvas twice

There was drama from the first 10 seconds of the WBO world heavyweight championship clash in Manchester on May 9 when Daniel Dubois (23-3, 22 KOs) crashed to the canvas courtesy of a Fabio Wardley (20-1-1, 19 KOs) right hand. Suddenly every spectator inside the Co-op Live Arena was paying very close attention.

For years, Dubois has carried the label of a fighter who quits when things become uncomfortable. Opponents and fans alike have questioned his heart, mentality and toughness.

During fight week, Fabio Wardley suggested that if Dubois was not a boxer, he would be a "binman".

By the end of Saturday night, though, Dubois had produced the most brutal clean-up operation of his career. He roared back from early adversity to stop the champion Wardley in the 11th round of a British heavyweight classic to become a two-time world champion.

Perhaps the most revealing moment came between the knockdowns.

After being dropped early, after just 10 seconds of the opening bell, Dubois looked towards his corner and gave a little wink to show that he was fine - he did not panic or unravel, which he has been accused of doing before, notably against Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk when he took a knee and chose not to get up. Even the tactical knee he took later in the third appeared to be calculated rather than desperate.

Much of the 18,000-strong crowd had come to see the Wardley fairytale continue, a likeable man who had just four white-collar bouts before turning pro and going unbeaten in 21 bouts to become a world champion, but Dubois blocked out the noise and stayed composed.

In the opening moments, a huge right hand grazed the top of Dubois' dome and instantly knocked him backwards. He got back to his feet and continued, but another similar shot in the third forced him to take a knee. After that, the Londoner got wise to that one punch that kept troubling him and he was soon seeing it coming and rolling under it safely. Fabio kept trying to line it up time after time, but as soon as he stopped landing it, his attacks seemingly became rather futile. That allowed 'DDD' to claw his way back into the contest and land some huge blows on the Ipswich FC fan.

Pretty soon the 31-year-old champion began to sag under the punishment, looking sapped of his strength from as early as the fifth round. He was then bloodied badly from his nose, his right eye became badly swollen, and he was breathing heavily from his mouth.

Despite looking like the stoppage would come in round seven, he somehow managed to keep going up to the 11th round before referee Howard Foster did the right thing and stopped the contest 28 seconds in to the penultimate segment.

The win once again silenced critics who have spent years dissecting the character of Dubois as much as his boxing ability.

"No human being on this planet could ever question this kid - certainly don't do that in front of me," trainer Don Charles said afterwards.

"Tonight he erased any doubt of all the negative talk. I'm glad the fight went that way so he could demonstrate this quitting narrative is not right."