Tony Bellew has a clear vision as to how Daniel Dubois fares when he gets a second crack at Oleksandr Usyk this summer.
The two face off for the undisputed heavyweight championship after first fighting back in 2023. Though most of the debate post-fight was surrounding Dubois’ low blow on Usyk, the Brit also came in for some criticism when he failed to stand in time for the referee’s count in the ninth, giving him the second stoppage loss of his career.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Tony Bellew built on his prediction that Dubois would get stopped between rounds eight and 12 by looking back to that first encounter.
“The first time you say ‘no mas’ or ‘I can’t fight no more’ is the hardest thing in your life. When you’re in that ring and you quit, it’s the hardest. Once you’ve done it once, it only gets easier from there on in. He [Usyk] is the man who can take you back to that place.
“Daniel Dubois [has a chance to] jump all over Oleksandr Usyk and get rid of him, but once he starts getting back to the place where this is really hard – where Usyk takes every fighter – he’s got that [quit] in him … Daniel’s done it twice. Now people don’t like me for saying that, but that’s just the truth. I’m a fan of what he’s achieved and what he’s done from those setbacks, but I just believe he gets taken back to that same place.”
Asked to respond to the prediction by Seconds Out, ‘DDD’ promoter Frank Warren cast up past comments from Bellew and branded him ‘nasty’ when it comes to the young Brit.
“I’ve got to be honest, I don’t particularly care about responding to what he says about anything about Daniel Dubois, considering when Daniel challenged Anthony Joshua he talked about him going on a stretcher in an ambulance. I won’t even dignify anything he says about Daniel Dubois … I think he’s just a nasty bas***d at times. That’s it.”
All predictions will be put to the test come July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
