Tony Bellew warns Dubois: I’d run a mile before facing Usyk again

We are just over a month and a half away from the Wembley showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois for the unification of all heavyweight titles. Accordingly, interviews, comments and analyses related to the fight for the status of the absolute "heavyweight" champion are increasingly multiplying in the public space, and among the latest is Tony Bellew (again) expressing his opinion.

- I give Daniel all the credit in the world for coming back to fight him, because if I had been offered to fight Usyk again, I would have run a mile away - Bellew said in an interview with Sky Sports and continued:

- Dubois is a boxer who has improved in great leaps. I wish him the best of luck and I take my hat off to him because anyone who faces Usyk more than once deserves a medal. That applies to Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and now Dubois.

Commenting on "Dynamite's" aspirations to become the first British absolute champion in the heavyweight division since 1999 and Lennox Lewis, or the first in the era of four belts, Bellew pointed out: - Daniel is a very good boxer, and he has shown that he can overcome all challenges and troubles. He has a real chance in this fight. I don't think he will win, but I give him a great chance of striking, that is, to win by knockout. The start will be very difficult for him because Usik already knows his strengths, and let's be honest, he also knows his weaknesses because he has already been in the ring with him once.

First fight

The first fight between Usyk and Dubois, let's recall, was staged at the end of August 2023 in Wroclaw, Poland, and the Ukrainian boxer won by knockout in the ninth round, thus defending his then WBA, WBO and IBF belts.

The fight, however, was also marked by a controversial moment in the fifth round, when "Dynamite" hit Usyk with a body kick, after which the latter fell to the ground and spent some time there, until he recovered. The referee, however, characterized the blow as too low, and therefore illegal, so there was no count, but the Ukrainian was given enough time to recover and return to the fight. Dubois and his team complained after the fight that they were injured - but in vain.

The current IBF champion firmly believes that the fight should have been stopped and that he should have left the ring as the winner, and promises that on July 19 he will "get revenge" and leave the ring as the winner. Will he succeed, or will Usyk continue his triumphant march - we will find out in a little over two months.

As for Bellew, he hung up his gloves in mid-November 2018, after losing to Usyk in the eighth round in a fight for the cruiserweight title. He had a total of 34 professional fights (30 wins, three losses, and one draw) and was the WBC cruiserweight world champion until the famous Ukrainian "de facto" retired him.