Tony Bellew has shared the ring with Oleksandr Usyk and has now made his prediction for the Ukrainian’s fight with Daniel Dubois.
Bellew was stopped by Usyk back in 2018, and after that the former cruiserweight world champion moved up to heavyweight. He has since become the number one in boxing’s blue ribbon division, taking wins over Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to become undisputed, while also getting a victory over Dubois in their first fight back in August 2023.
Speaking to FightLens, Bellew broke down Dubois’s chances in the rematch at Wembley Stadium on July 19.
“Daniel Dubois is a 27-year-old veteran. He’s been through that much and experienced that much. But it’ll to be interesting to see if that makes a difference against Oleksandr Usyk. I do think he’s in the fight with Usyk, but I think it’s one he’ll lose.”
He then outlined how he thinks the Ukrainian will get the win and referenced the first fight in which Dubois seemed to lose confidence in himself and then get stopped by a jab in the 9th round.
“I think OIeksandr Usyk will make him visit the place he did last time, he’ll push him to the brink of quitting.I’m not labelling Daniel Dubois a quitter, yes he’s done it in the past, there’s no getting away from that, and the first time you do it is the hardest.
It’s just that at this moment right now he’s riding the crest of a big wave and that victory over ‘AJ’ will catapult him to new fights but its going to take five or six rounds to drill that out of him, and that’s what Usyk will do.
Ultimately he doesn’t have the pedigree, mindset or mentalitlity of Usyk and that will show on the night.
If Daniel Dubois is to get the victory against Oleksandr Usyk I would rate it up there with some of the biggest upsets of recent times. It’s huge. It would be a huge shock.”
For the winner, two mandatory challengers await – Joseph Parker for the WBO belt and Derek Chisora for the IBF strap.
