After guiding Daniel Dubois to his first world title, trainer Don Charles was surprisingly sacked one month after Oleksandr Usyk inflicted a second defeat on the British heavyweight.
Usyk’s fifth-round knockout win at Wembley ended Dubois’ one-year reign as IBF champion and, in turn, gave the Ukrainian his third undisputed crown across two weight divisions.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Dubois wrote:
“I feel it’s time for a change, a fresh approach for the next phase of my career.”
The 28-year-old has been rumoured to have teamed up with Conor Benn’s trainer Tony Sims, although nothing has been officially announced.
Charles, meanwhile, offered a small insight into what happened when he spoke to Seconds Out, saying the move was made by parties who have influence over Dubois and his father, Stan.
“I can categorically [say] Daniel’s not capable of making that decision. That was made for him and he was the one who had to action it — deliver it because he is the fighter.”
Charles would not point the finger of blame directly at Stan Dubois either, but expressed his disappointment over the matter.
“He’s been influenced heavily — Stan Dubois. People think I’m a mad person, I’m far from it. I always refer to [them] as agents, the devil’s agents. They always manage to infiltrate. They don’t like anything good; they like to infiltrate anything good and spoil it. He’s been heavily influenced.”
“You [Stan] should never let the devil come between us. Unfortunately, they’ve managed to use their ways to get at you and then you had to [do] what you did. But I feel very let down. I feel very sad, but it will never change what we achieved together.”
