DON'T BLINK: WARDLEY VS DUBOIS
Short Documentary
When DAZN and Five Isles approached me about the project, the brief from the start was to make something different from their usual boxing coverage. They didn’t want another promo film built around hype. They wanted something more documentary-led and human, which immediately interested me.
What stood out about the fight was that it didn’t fit the usual boxing narrative. It wasn’t an underdog story or a clear good guy versus bad guy dynamic. It felt more like Goliath versus Goliath. Two heavyweights at the top of the sport, both carrying completely different motivations into the same fight.
I was also aware that very few people truly understand what it feels like to operate at that level - I don't know what it's like to be one of the best fighters in the world, do you? So the question that sat at the centre of the film became: what makes these men relatable to the rest of us? To answer that, I felt I had to stop looking at them purely as fighters and instead understand them as people.
The more time I spent around Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois, the more I realised the interesting part wasn’t necessarily the boxing itself, but what sat underneath it. Both were trying to prove something, just in different ways. Fabio wanting to prove he belonged despite his unconventional route into the sport. Daniel wanting to prove that previous setbacks didn’t define him. Once you stripped away the belts and media attention, there was something very relatable in both of them.
I was interested in the contrast between chaos and stillness within boxing. The intensity of the fight itself compared to the quiet routines surrounding it. Training, waiting, repetition and preparation. I wanted the film to move in a similar way with moments of energy followed by moments that felt more observational and reflective.
We used high-speed cameras throughout the film, not to exaggerate the violence of boxing, but to focus on the physical effect of it. The tension in muscles, breathing and small reactions that normally disappear in real time.
Made for DAZN Boxing.
Produced by Five Isles.
Directed by Charles Logan Clare.