Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has a view on Daniel Dubois‘s boxing future after his latest loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois has had a storied career full of every conceivable high and low, and all by the time he is just 27-years-old.

The big punching heavyweight rose quickly through the ranks, though he first stumbled after being accused of quitting due to staying on his knee for a 10 count against Joe Joyce in 2020.

He showed great courage to step into the ring with Oleksandr Usyk in Poland in August 2023, and thought he had his man down, but it was a low blow. Later in the fight, he seemed to lose confidence and was put down with a jab and then took the 10 count once more.

Once again, he roared back with a trio of wins, including a knockout of Anthony Joshua to defend his IBF world title last September, but this weekend he was stopped inside five in the rematch with Usyk. The fight ended with Dubois on the canvas after a second knockdown, although he was able to stand up and walk back to his corner as soon as the count finished, which has led some to believe he took the easy way out.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Bellew said the real Dubois ‘doesn’t want to fight’.

“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.”

And now posting on twitter, Bellew hit back at comments from promoter Frank Warren and spoken about his own KO Loss to Usyk, suggesting that Dubois should now ‘leave the sport’, given how his fight with Usyk ended.

“I did get up and was up off a heavier shot than that before the count of 8! Thankfully for me the ref stopped it but as you and I both know I’ll always need saving from myself.

Nothing wrong in knowing when you’ve had enough, I just suggest you leave sport with that kinda attitude.”

Dubois has vowed to fight on, while Usyk will likely have to defend his WBO title against mandatory challenger Joseph Parker.