In an exclusive interview with SafeBettingSites.com, former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew reacts to Daniel Dubois’ illegal low blow in his heavyweight clash against Oleksandr Usyk.
Bellew also predicts his former foe Usyk will unify the heavyweight belts, beat Tyson Fury & retire from boxing.
Interview highlights
- Dubois is a quitter just like Kell Brook – Joshua never quit
- Dubois will never be a world champion if he keeps quitting
- Usyk will beat Fury & retire
- Usyk in the conversation as ‘GOAT’
Transcript
Question: Is it fair to label Daniel Dubois a quitter after he took a knee once again?
Tony Bellew: ”Firstly I want to say I think the low blow shot was on the protector and the protector is there for a reason. People are saying it was on his belly button but let’s just be brutally honest it was borderline. When you hit the protector it lifts the cup up and I’ve seen the replay a dozen times and Usky’s reaction was that of someone who was really hurt. But as he said, had the referee started counting he would’ve jumped up. But the referee didn’t start counting and that’s the problem. Ultimately it leads us to the position of why didn’t Daniel Dubois just jump on him immediately because if you know you’ve hurt someone with a body shot you know they’re there for the taking. Jump on him. Finish him.
“Then also, have we all forgotten that Daniel Dubois watched the referee count to 10 while on one knee? It’s not the first time he’s done it. It’s not unfair [to label him a quitter] because against Joe Joyce he had a fractured orbital bone and again he watched the referee count to 10 while on one knee and then when the referee gets to 10 he gets straight up. And he’s done it again now. I don’t want to call someone a quitter but a man told me in this very gym, his name was John ‘Duke’ Doolan, and he wasn’t the greatest coach but something he said stuck with me to this day. He said to me ‘son don’t you ever spew it.’ Spew it means to quit. The first time you spew it is the hardest and after the first time it only gets easier and easier and I’m sorry to say that Daniel Dubois has spewed it twice.
“People keep asking me why I only say it about Daniel Dubois? Well Kell Brook was a very good friend of mine in the past and we were both under the same platform at Matchroom. We both fought under Sky Sports and I commentated live on his fight against Errol Spence. I went live after that fight and said Kell Brook has just spewed it and it wasn’t his first time. He spewed it against Gennady Golovkin and he spewed it against Errol Spence. I’m sorry. He’s a far better fighter than me. I’ve got no problem with saying that but when the going gets tough he looks for a way out. Daniel Dubois is exactly the same. We’re not all wired the same, some of us are wired differently. I’ve got a bit of a screw loose. So have most other people I meet. It’s just that I admit it. Now I wish I could’ve had that mentality of when the going gets tough, I wouldn’t ever walk away but I’d like to be able to say I’m out of my depth here and stop. But I could never do that. Put me to sleep. Knock me out. I guess it’s a pride thing. I hate to lose, that’s the first thing and secondly I can’t bare the thought of quitting because in my mind if I quit there will always be that ‘what if?’. My sporting career is over now and I don’t have any ‘what ifs’ whatsoever. I have no sleepless nights about what I’ve done in boxing. I achieved my absolute maximum. I became British, Commonwealth, European and World champion. I was a three-time ABA champion, I boxed for my country all around the world and I can say, hand on heart never, ever once did I spew it. I’ve been stopped, I‘ve been knocked down, I’ve never been put asleep yet and I’ve got up every time I’ve been knocked down. That’s just it, some people haven’t got it.
“I’m not knocking Daniel Dubois because he’s a really good, young heavyweight and he’s still got time but I’m not going to lie. He will never be a world champion if he doesn’t find it within himself to go ‘you know what? I don’t care what happens to me.’ I got hit by a guy called Ovill Mckenzie once. He hit me so hard I just went flat down and woke up by my face hitting the canvas and I remember just thinking to myself I’m going to kill him, I can’t believe you’ve done this to me. I jumped up and the referee was on the count of four. I said move out of my way, I’m going to beat the living daylights out of him and the referee grabbed my gloves and said ‘you’re insane…ok box’. I looked at Ovill McKenzie’s eyes and he’d lost the fight there and then because he’d hit me with the absolute best shot he had and he’d seen me bounce right back up and thought what more can I do?!
“So I’m happy to be able to clear that up. People say well why didn’t you say that about AJ against Andy Ruiz? AJ never quit, he was just completely exhausted and spent. He didn’t sit on one knee and watch the referee count to 10. The referee stopped it and actually saved him. Very similar to how I was against Adonis Stevenson. I was stopped on my feet against Stevenson. I got up at the count of six or seven against Oleksandr Usyk and thankfully, I’m very fortunate that I’ve had two referees save my life. Because I was up at six or seven and they could have let me fight on if they wanted but I was in no fit state to. So I’m genuinely grateful to them because it’s the shot that you don’t brace for is the shot that does all the damage.”
Q: Who’s next for Usyk?
TB: “I think he just wants that unification fight now. He wants that WBC title and to unify the heavyweight division and then I think he’ll just want to walk away. I don’t think we’ll see him again. I just think he’ll want to ride off into the sunset and so he should. He deserves to. He’s been absolutely amazing. European champion, world champion, amateur champion, Olympic gold medallist, undisputed unified cruiserweight champion. He’s almost done it all so there will be nowhere left to go if he beats Tyson Fury which he is capable of doing. If he does then he will definitely go down as one of the greats. You can’t call him the greatest of all time but he is definitely in the conversation.”
