Like most people who follow boxing, Daniel Dubois didn’t take Tyson Fury seriously when the former WBC heavyweight champion announced his retirement for seemingly the umpteenth time in January.

“I don’t even think he took himself seriously,” a smiling Dubois told The Ring on Thursday. “He’s just saying whatever comes to mind first. I thought he would come back. He’s done it before. With all the belts on the line, he can come back and have a megafight, so I didn’t take it seriously, no.”

Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) believes he will own all of the heavyweight titles by the night of July 19. The London native intends to knock out Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) in their rematch at Wembley Stadium, where he spectacularly knocked out former unified champ Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) in the fifth round on Sept. 21.

Dubois doesn’t think Joshua would face him again based on the brutal outcome. He feels Fury, however, would want another opportunity to become boxing’s third undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era if Dubois beats Usyk.

Ukraine’s Usyk defeated Fury twice by unanimous decision in 2024. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist will defend his Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO titles against Dubois, who won the then-vacant IBF belt by stopping Croatian contender Filip Hrgovic (18-1, 14 KOs) during the eighth round 13 months ago at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Usyk relinquished the IBF belt following his first victory over Fury at Kingdom Arena in May 2024.

England’s Fury, 36, told reporters and assured Turki Alalshikh this week that he will return for an unspecified Riyadh Season card in 2026. Dubois, 27, would love for Fury to challenge him for heavyweight supremacy if “The Gypsy King” returns.

“I think he will come back,” Dubois said. “Seeing all the belts on the line, I think he’ll fancy it. He’ll come out [of retirement] for sure. That’s what I want. We need the heavyweight division to be healthy, for us fighters to get up for a real megafight like that. That would be a megafight. That’s what you want.”

If Dubois avenges his ninth-round, knockout loss to Usyk two weeks from Saturday night, facing Fury would afford him the chance to knock off a third elite heavyweight of this era.

“Those are the top guys of their era,” Dubois said regarding Fury, Joshua and Usyk. “I need to show this is a new era, a new age, that there’s a new heavyweight on the scene and his name is Daniel Dubois.”