‘Don’t call it a split’: Trainer is ready to return to Daniel Dubois’ corner
“Let’s not use the word ‘split’,” Don Charles responds when asked about his reunion with Daniel Dubois. “Let’s call it a break.
“The break was unplanned – I didn’t expect it. But he felt he needed a break from me.
“I was very, very disappointed. It was a sudden thing that shocked me. I felt betrayed. You’ve got someone’s best interests at heart, and out of the blue… Okay, we’d lost the fight. But if you’re gonna lose, lose to someone like that.
“It hurt. It hurt for a period. I did my usual exercise and asked questions of myself. ‘What could I have done different?’ I let it be; let the universe deal with everything. I stayed positive; at no point did I talk bad about Daniel, ‘cause there was nothing bad about the relationship.
“It was unexpected when he came to me in the first place. When he left it was almost in the same fashion.”
It was in August 2025 when Charles was informed by Dubois that, after a defeat by the great Oleksandr Usyk either side of the three most impressive performances and victories of his career – over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua – he was being dismissed as his trainer and replaced by Tony Sims.
At 64 Charles is beyond familiar with the realities of his industry and his profession but he is also loyal to those he works with to the point of devotion, and develops attachments to them that perhaps enhance the effectiveness of his methods but also guarantees that the fall is greater when it comes.
“I’m still aspiring to be the best coach I can be and achieve more by training more world champions,” he continued, to Boxing Scene. “I still have a 2016 Olympic champion [in Tony Yoka]. A trainer has more lives than a fighter. Daniel’s a special fighter, granted, but I know that I’ve got the ability and experience to bring Tony Yoka to become a world [heavyweight] champion. My stable’s well in tact, so that gives you a bit of sanity – it’s not like your work suddenly stops. I buried my head into it even more – it’s almost an escapism – to make sure they do cross the line.
“[Sims is] a good friend, a good coach; he’s tested and proven, so I was happy he went with someone like that. Daniel, from what I’ve been told, was ticking over and hadn’t actually gone into camp. For whatever reason, it didn’t work out for them. Some fighters gel with some coaches and vice versa.
“His father [Stanley] called me, they wanted to have a meeting, and they decided they wanted to come back – I didn’t have to think hard about it. I was ecstatic. That’s why I say he went on a break, rather than a split. Had he one fight then you could say we split for one fight; he didn’t have a fight, and the same guy who came back to me is the same fighter who left.”
Fabio Wardley, the WBO heavyweight champion and Dubois’ opponent at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England on Saturday evening said something similar when recently asked about the changes regularly made to Dubois’ training team. For their part, Dubois and Charles are keen to point out that since he horrifically suffered a fractured orbital bone before losing to Joe Joyce in 2020 he has lost only to Usyk, a southpaw and all-time great.
The heavy-handed Wardley, 31 and both less experienced and less polished than Dubois, previously complemented his long-term trainer Robert Hodgins with Ben Davison – a trainer Dubois was once recommended he work with before the start of his first period with Charles – and is also proven at winning fights from losing positions and therefore blessed with vast self-belief.
“Daniel’s a human being – of course [had his confidence tested when he lost to Usyk],” Charles said. “Do your normal routine, and the company that you keep, helps to regain confidence that you might have lost. Since he came back I couldn’t tell you his confidence is down – no. He’s a very straightforward individual, Daniel – he’s not complicated at all. It’s 16 weeks ago he came back.
“I’m quite a sturdy character. I speak with confidence. I’m good at what I do, even if I say so myself. The word is trust – when somebody trusts you you’re gonna get the best out of that person.
“On paper, it’s risky [to fight Wardley off the back of a defeat]. In most situations, it’s risky. But Daniel’s a box-office fighter and you’ve got to weigh up – at what level did he lose?
“When the opportunity was presented… Before he came back to me there was talk of him fighting [Zhilei] Zhang. Then suddenly it was switched, and I’m glad it was switched, because what’s the point in fighting Zhang, who’s coming off the back of a loss? Zhang’s high risk, low reward. Whereas Fabio has something. If Fabio didn’t have that belt I wouldn’t have opted for Daniel to fight him. We weighed up the pros and cons, and it made a lot of sense.
“Usyk is a southpaw. Most people don’t fare well with southpaws like Usyk. There’s a lot of difference to who we lost, and we lost at the highest level. Fabio’s not a southpaw. Daniel doesn’t have any problems with the majority of orthodox fighters. He stopped three back to back. People who if you took away Fabio’s power are much better fighters than Fabio.
“He’s a very, very tough man. He can grind it. But Fabio’s never faced anyone like him. He’s meeting someone who punches as hard if not harder than himself, and someone who’s got that pedigree. Fabio has learned on the job and I admire that. Daniel’s entrance to boxing is certainly different to Fabio’s – that’ll make the difference on the night. Daniel’s a better schooled fighter. I’ve looked at it at every angle and think Daniel comes on top.
“I totally respect him. Why wouldn’t I? We recognise what he’s got. We’re not ignorant. But the mistake they’re going to make – others have done and failed miserably – they’re going to rely on nailing Daniel with a right hand. There are other things within the boxing makeup than trying to land a right hand.
“We know each other really well. He’s a nice guy. Take away the competition momentarily, I’m a fan [of Wardley]. I’m one of the few that said he’d beat [Joseph] Parker. The toughness; grit; determination; there’s a lot to him, coupled with that takeout power. But when I look at the fight, Daniel outscores him in literally every department. It’s no secret he’s all offence. He doesn’t have no defence.”
Charles’ hunger and determination to lead his fighters to victory meant that Saturday’s all-English contest offered him considerable cause for consolation when Lawrence Okolie failing a drugs test meant that his date with Tony Yoka was cancelled just days before they were due to fight.
“It’s actually better to be a trainer than a fighter in some cases,” he said. “‘Okay, this one didn’t happen; that’s dead; disappointed, but there’s the next one on the horizon.’ Thank God for that.
“[But] it affects everybody. Yoka worked his arse off ‘cause it’s a great opportunity to put himself in a position where he could have contested a world title. For that to happen…
“It’s your duty to check that anything you put in your body isn’t on that list, so that’s what I’m struggling with.
“It’s a great opportunity taken away from him. He’s terribly down and disappointed. [And] I feel sorry for [Okolie’s trainer] Joe Gallagher – you train these fighters, and then surely it’s the fighter’s responsibility to make sure that he diligently checks what he puts in his body. That’s the bit I’m struggling with. I feel for myself. I’ve got staff that work with me to train these fighters. Everybody loses out.”
The cancellation of Yoka-Okolie came little over two weeks after Charles was present at London’s O2 Arena to watch Derek Chisora lose to Deontay Wilder in what was promoted as his 50th and final fight.
If Charles came full circle with the 28-year-old Dubois via the two fights with Usyk, the start of his second period as Dubois’ trainer and the new beginning it represented was nearing while he watched what he believed would be Chisora’s career reaching its end. It was with Chisora that Charles built his reputation and with whom he remains most associated. The enigmatic Chisora can be expected to fight again – and Dubois will remain difficult to predict, though it perhaps shouldn’t be overlooked that he never returned to previous trainers Martin Bowers or Shane McGuigan – but whether or not he does, Charles will be consistent in both his words and deeds.
“Of course [I worry about Chisora’s health],” he said.
“It was very emotional on the night for me. I attended. At some point I’m looking at it and thinking, ‘Damn, this is it – the kid that brought me through, this is his last one’.
sad in the sense that this is it for him. I owe him so much. Very happy [for him too].
“We speak – every week we touch base. His mum Violet was quite sad ‘cause he lost, and I said to her the following day ‘Violet, we can’t lose because we’ve already won – your son’s hands didn’t go up but he’s already won in life. If I said to you ‘Your son is gonna become one of the British iconic boxing names and make this amount of money but on the way he’s gonna have to lose a few fights…’. The same thing I said to her is what I’m saying to myself as well.
“There wasn’t much in [the fight] and I think that’s why he’s looking for a rematch. Knowing Derek how I know him he’s itching to have another fight. Derek’s never retired – I don’t want him to be one of these fighters who says he’s retired and then 10 months down the road he’s coming back. I think he should just have that one more fight, hopefully get a win, and get it out of his system and retire and call it a day. If he had beat Wilder he wouldn’t have boxed again.”
