Daniel Dubois scored a crushing second-round knockout victory over fellow Briton Fabio Wardley to retain his World Boxing Organisation heavyweight crown on Saturday.

In a much-anticipated rematch of their bruising 11-round classic earlier this year, Dubois dominated Wardley from the opening bell to batter his rival into submission in the second round.

Dubois dropped Wardley after 17 seconds of the contest at the O2 Arena in London, catching the challenger flush on the chin with a huge overhand right.

The 29-year-old Dubois continued to land punches at will throughout the first round, which finished with Wardley clinging on desperately under a barrage of punches on the ropes.

The second round started as the first had ended, with the 6ft 5in Dubois uncorking an array of punches that left Wardley in desperate trouble.

With Dubois unloading on a defenceless Wardley, the towel came in after two minutes and 21 seconds of the round.

The fight’s explosive opening was a role reversal from the two fighters’ first meeting in May, when Wardley floored Dubois after just 16 seconds.

Dubois said afterwards he had been determined to set the tone in Saturday’s rematch.

“I had bad intentions from the beginning,” Dubois said in his post-fight television interview in the ring. “Our back was against the wall the first time; this time we just had to go out there and show that we mean business, and that’s what we did tonight,” added Dubois, who improved to 24-3-0 (23 knockouts) with the win.

Dubois is now eyeing a series of potential unification fights in a heavyweight division that has been splintered since Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk vacated his WBC, WBA and IBF belts in June.

“I’m the champion now, and I want to get some big fights in,” Dubois said. “This stage of my career, big money, big fights.”

Wardley, who fell to 20-2-1, meanwhile had no complaints about his loss.

“It’s never fun to lose, but it is what it is,” said Wardley, who took up professional boxing relatively late after starting fighting in white-collar bouts.

“The game is the game. I’ve always thrown myself in with the best competitors out there, the best in the business, the toughest, the biggest, hardest, meanest guys around.

“There’s no shame in a loss when you’re putting yourself in and testing yourself against the best … Boxing is a game of fine margins — it can be done and over in a round or two, or it can be a big old war like it was last time.

“I didn’t execute the game plan properly tonight. That was all. I hold my hands up to that.”