Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew believes Daniel Dubois quit in his fifth-round defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, claiming the 27-year-old "doesn’t want to fight" and feels "sorry for himself".
Bellew knows a thing or two about fighting Usyk.
The pair shared the ring in 2018, in what turned out to be the Liverpudlian's final professional bout with Bellew leading on the judges' scorecards before a brutal left hook from Usyk laid the now-42-year-old out.
The fight was stopped in the eighth round with Bellew hauling himself up with the help of the ropes but it wasn’t enough to convince the referee.
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|Tony Bellew suffered a brutal knockout defeat against Oleksandr Usyk back in 2018
On Saturday evening, Dubois struggled to lay a glove on Usyk, with the Ukrainian yet again demonstrating his generational ability and power.
It was a brutal left hook from the undisputed champion that knocked Dubois down for the second time in the round, leaving the Englishman firmly on the canvas.
Dubois appeared to be deliberating whether to get back up when the referee waved the contest off just before the count.
Bellew, however, believes the fight was over from the first round, criticising Dubois’s lack of confidence and strength in mentality that played a major role in his defeat.
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Reuters
|Oleksandr Usyk knocked Daniel Dubois down in the fifth round to become the undisputed champion
Speaking to talkSPORT, the 42-year-old said: "The writing was on the wall the minute [Usyk] landed the first strong jab in the first round.
"Daniel Dubois is a brilliant fighter on the front foot...when things are going his way and he’s landing punches, he’s an absolute nightmare for anybody, as we’ve seen in the AJ fight.
"But the minute you start to manoeuvre around him, make him miss a couple of times and make him pay by the way, he starts doubting himself, he starts feeling sorry for himself."
Dubois has been accused of giving up before, after he took the knee against Joe Joyce.
The 27-year-old suffered a damaged retina with promoter Frank Warren claiming it could have permanently damaged his eyesight but the explanation didn’t fly in the boxing community.
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Rival boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believed Dubois was "mentally weak" whereas former middleweight world challenger Matthew Macklin claimed he’s "got the quit" in him.
In the first edition of Usyk vs Dubois, the Englishman took the knee twice in the ninth round, leading to spectators claiming he had given up too easily.
Bellew believes that Saturday’s clash, which saw Dubois hit the deck twice in the fifth round, evidenced this narrative further.
He continued: "I’m sorry to use these words. This isn’t my opinion, guys. This is a fact. This is the third time now. And he starts looking for a way, and he just fell apart if I’m being totally honest.
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Reuters
|Tony Bellew questioned who it is Daniel Dubois is fighting for, accusing him as 'feeling sorry for himself'
"Don’t get me wrong, it’s a heavy backhand over the top, and he’s on the floor and he’s a bit dazed at first and by the time he gets to three or four he’s clearly looking at that referee and he’s not getting up.
"It was a look of a fighter — I think the question he needs to answer is ‘Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for and why am I doing it?’ Because if he’s doing it for himself, believe you me guys, he gets up.2
Bellew suffered the same fate as Dubois in his 2018 bout with Usyk, with the former cruiserweight claiming the referee "saved my life" for stopping the fight.
While the Evertonian tried to get back onto his feet but to no avail, he believes Dubois had no intention of doing so and had already made his mind up, concluding that he doesn’t really want to fight at all.
Bellew explained: "I got hit with the same shots off Usyk and I was on my back flat and by the count of six I was up on my feet and thankfully for me the referee stopped it and saved my life because I wanted to carry on.
"What you saw in Daniel on Saturday was a fighter who takes a really heavy shot, doesn’t want to get up, guys...When he gets into these really hard moments in fights, that’s when the real Daniel comes out and the real Daniel doesn’t want to fight."
Whether Dubois gave in easily or not, the writing was on the wall for Dynamite after Usyk’s brutal fifth-round blow.
What is now for certain is Dubois’s long road back, as he looks to recover from a devastating Usyk defeat once more.