Tony Bellew has been assessing Daniel Dubois’s performance in his latest loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
Dubois was the IBF champion going into the fight and had built up a good head of steam with his last three knockout wins since being KO’d by Usyk back in August 2023.
For Usyk, the fight was a chance to become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, which he duly did by stopping Dubois inside five rounds.
In previous fights Dubois has been accused by some of quitting, once against Joe Joyce when he had a badly damaged eye, and once in the first fight with Usyk when he apparently had his heart broken by the 9th round and went down off a jab.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Bellew outlined why he thinks Dubois quit once more this past weekend.
“The question needs to be asked, who are you boxing for, why are you doing this? Is it to impress someone? Is it to get on their good side? He ain’t fighting for money. He was financially secure a long time ago. When he gets into these really hard moments in a fight, that’s when the real Daniel comes out. The real Daniel doesn’t want to fight.
I’m sorry to say that. It sounds bad and really harsh, but that’s just the truth.
I’m a massive fan of him and his sister. But when you’ve had three separate occasions when you’ve had moments of recollection and sit there and go, ‘I’m hurt, I’m down, I’ve had enough’.
He gets hit harder in the AJ fight, he goes in for the finish, AJ hits him with a shot that rocks him to his boots, but cause he was on top in that fight and his confidence is high, he rolls the dice and he throws back and AJ and he knocks him out.
On Saturday night, he had zero success. In my opinion, this is the attitude and mentality of a guy that when the going gets tough, he doesn’t want to fight, and you can never change that.”
‘DDD’ has already vowed to rebuild and come again, which many believe he will. For Usyk, a likely mandatory defence against WBO ruler Joseph Parker awaits.
