Every boxer dreams of embodying the legendary aura that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson once had. However, few truly possess what it takes to match his persona. Interestingly, IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois recently grabbed attention by mimicking a key aspect of Tyson’s distinctive personality.

Before his shocking 5th-round knockout win over former unified champion Anthony Joshua, Dubois strutted to the ring wearing black shorts and a towel, reminiscent of Tyson’s ring walks in his prime in the 90s. This sparked a plethora of comparisons between the duo online. Not to forget, the way Dubois got rid of Joshua, especially stunned the audience.

However, former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew, who fought the likes of current heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk, isn’t having any of it. Bellew was quoted saying by The Mirror to Instant Casino, “There’s only one comparison [between Dubois and Tyson] – they both wear black shorts. It stops there. There’s nothing else. Absolutely not.”

He further explained that Dubois lacks a boxing IQ like ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, but claimed the IBF champion is an outstanding athlete. Bellew went as far as to suggest that ‘DDD’ is a little robotic, so there’s no turning him into the likes of Muhammad Ali. These statements came even though Dubois was a massive underdog, and still managed to drop Joshua four times. 

However, more interestingly, Bellew didn’t see any similarity between Tyson and Dubois, but he did see similarities between Tyson and Anthony Joshua. 

Tony Bellew snubs Daniel Dubois to announce Anthony Joshua is more like Mike Tyson

During the same conversation, Bellew claimed despite what happened to Anthony Joshua at Wembley last month, people would tune in to watch ‘AJ’ fight. Bellew feels Joshua does two things to make that happen: “He either knocks you out or he gets knocked out.” Bellew elaborated on his point, claiming that kind of performance sells very well.

Two out of Joshua’s four losses came from knockouts, and the 6’ 6” heavyweight maintains an 89.29% knockout ratio—meaning Bellew is not wrong. However, the problem is that the point Bellew made fits Dubois better, as Dubois maintains an even better 95.45% knockout ratio, and both of his prior two losses came by knockouts. 

Regardless, Bellew continued, “I’m not comparing [Joshua and Tyson] in any way, shape, or form, I’m just going to go off the results, Mike Tyson was similar. He either knocks you out or he gets knocked out and people want to see that.” 

That said, Tony Bellew’s comparison seems a bit biased, considering the factors he himself highlighted. However, it’s important to note that, based on Mike Tyson’s achievements, neither fighter’s success has reached the same level. What are your thoughts on Bellew’s statement?