The British fighter fell to a bruising knockout defeat in last month's heavyweight world title bout at Wembley Stadium and Malignaggi has advised him to take a "confidence builder" fight before facing the IBFworld champion again.

He told talkBOXING: "I tell you what, if you're going to do a rematch I want to see him with something in between.

"I wouldn't want to see a direct rematch. Because I don't think you go into a fight like that where he got physically manhandled.

"He got knocked out and he now needs a confidence builder to see where you're at.

"It helps you see if you're mentally ready, if they call you for the fight and you are not under stress, you think, 'I can do this again.'

"But if you are in camp again and in the fight night situation, you think, 'Do I really need to do this again?'.

"Now you have to get yourself through a problem again, when you are younger you relish it."

Joshua has vowed to carry on boxing despite the defeat but Malignaggi believes the former world champion will have to think long and hard about whether he has the hunger to get revenge on Dubois.

He said: "You could see AJ when Dubois was bringing that fire, he just couldn't match it.

"So he needs to have a conversation within yourself, you can't lie to yourself. It is tough.

"But you need to say, 'Can I match that intensity if I find myself in that situation again?'

"Part of your mentality has changed after that, you are in preservation mode.

"You won't have that same reckless abandon of youth, and do you really want to go against that energy of youth?

"Dubois has that right now and I don't know if AJ can match that intensity.

"It is more than desire, it is a mentality that passes you by as you get older."