Don Charles, trainer of Daniel Dubois, has spoken out against the ‘quitter’ label that has been placed on his fighter after the Brit twice took a knee in his two knockout defeats to date.
Dubois first opted to see out the referee’s count against Joe Joyce in 2020. It was his first defence of the British heavyweight title, and he suffered a fractured eye socket against his formidably-chinned countryman.
Less than three years later, following a string of four consecutive quick-fire knockout wins, Dubois found himself challenging Oleksandr Usyk for the unified heavyweight world titles.
Despite a spirited performance which saw him floor the Ukrainian for almost four minutes with a low-blow, Dubois took a knee once again, accepting a ninth-round knockout defeat and receiving a heap of backlash as a result.
In an interview with TalkSPORT, Charles questioned the criticism of Dubois and claimed he has been ‘persecuted by the general public.
“The [quitting] narrative that has been put out there I don’t think is totally fair. Going back to the Joe Joyce fight for instance, this kid had the intelligence to take a knee, there is such a thing as taking a knee in boxing, and had he stood up and carried on fighting, who is to say that he wouldn’t have sustained a career-ending injury?”
“In MMA and UFC, they are all tough guys, you know when they tap out, is that quitting? We have got to compare it, it is fighting. That means that all of these tough guys who do MMA and UFC, when they tap out it is because the pain is excruciating, but I don’t ever hear anybody saying that these guys have quit. Daniel, I think has been persecuted by the general public by this quitting accusation.”
Dubois remains in the world title mix after a career-best win over Jarrell Miller, and it seems that a route to a belt has now re-emerged for the 26-year-old.