Tony Bellew thinks Daniel Dubois would be wise to avoid one of his heavyweight rivals .

Dubois is one of the most improved heavyweights on the planet. He turned professional at a young age, cleaned out all of his early opponents, then took a KO loss to Joe Joyce, but swiftly rebuilt and secured great wins over the likes of Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua to earn himself the IBF world title.

He has lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk, but regained a version of the world title when he stopped Fabio Wardley by 11th round KO in May to win the WBO heavyweight title, before a second round stoppage over his rival in their rematch on Saturday to retain the belt.

Speaking to Fight Your Corner, former cruiserweight world champion Bellew advised Team Dubois to avoid WBC champion Agit Kabayel and a potential unification fight should he win this weekend.

“If I was managing Daniel Dubois, I wouldn’t touch Kabayel, because we don’t know his level yet. He could be exceptional; we don’t know that with Kabayel. You find his level first, then you take the fight.

“He’s a proper nightmare; he’s a brilliant body puncher; he gets up off the floor, he’s not the biggest heavyweight, the biggest puncher, but he’s a nice box-puncher and a good body puncher, which is rare.”

Dubois has already spoken of his desire to fight Tyson Fury if he comes through his clash with Joshua in December, so a fight with Kabayel seems unlikely any time soon.

Kabayel has previously stopped Zhilei Zhang, Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makmuhdov, and returns to action next month when he defends his world title against Nelson Hysa.