The new trainer of Daniel Dubois, Don Charles, has been open about the ‘daunting task’ of heading straight into a fight against unified world heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
As Dubois moved ever closer to the fight of his life, news broke that he had split with trainer, Shane McGuigan. Charles – who is well known for guiding the career of Derek Chisora at various points – was announced as the replacement.
Put simply, it’s the wrong time for disruptions to training camps, with Dubois set to enter a purse bid process on May 25 for a fight with Usyk.
Asked by Seconds Out if he had given his opinion to the wider team on whether or not the 25-year-old was ready for Usyk, Charles confirmed he had but didn’t divulge further.
“Because of my age I’d like to say I’m a wise man. I was asked questions and I know what I answered and how I answered them. Yes that question was posed to me but I’m not going tell you how I answered.”
He did, however, heap praise onto Usyk, calling the matchup ‘horrible’ and said his man hasn’t yet gained the required experience to be ready for the Ukrainian.
“Horrible. For both parties. It’s well documented, Usyk is a great mover, masterful technician. What a daunting task. He’s at the height of his career confidence wise. Then again, Daniel is all wrong for him.
Daniel doesn’t have the experience to fight a guy like that, but I’ve seen things and we’ve got reasons to believe that no matter how small that chance is, we’re going to seize it.”
Charles confirmed that it would be a joint decision as to how things would play out now, saying that in an ‘ideal world’ he’d have more time with Dubois before the world title shot but that may be out of his hands.
Until that decision is made, he says he’s preparing for his man for Usyk.