Daniel Dubois has split from Don Charles and started training with Tony Sims, BoxingScene can reveal.
The 27-year-old sacrificed his IBF heavyweight title when stopped in five rounds by Oleksandr Usyk in their undisputed heavyweight title fight at London’s Wembley Stadium in July.
He had since recruited Sam Jones as an advisor and also separated from his assistant trainer Kieran Farrell. Parting with the experienced Charles regardless represents a considerably higher-profile change to his team – and at a time when there exists concerns regarding the culture around Dubois, the picture around him has changed once again.
Sims – like Charles one of Britain’s most experienced trainers – once led Anthony Joshua to the same IBF heavyweight title and more recently started working with Johnny Fisher following the heavyweight’s split from Mark Tibbs.
After Charles, Shane McGuigan and Martin Bowers he has become Dubois’ fourth trainer of an eight-year professional career. Perhaps more relevantly he is Dubois’ fourth trainer in under five years, and atypically is working with a fighter not guided by Matchoom but by Queensberry Promotions instead.
Charles was recruited by Dubois ahead of his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in 2023.
Together they rebuilt following the defeat he suffered as the significant underdog, and, in Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Joshua, in successive fights recorded his three finest wins.
After defeating Hrgovic – who on Saturday overcame David Adeleye – Dubois was installed as the IBF champion and defended his title by stopping Joshua at Wembley in five rounds.
Usyk by then holding the WBA, WBO and WBC titles made a rematch between them inevitable, but Dubois – again the underdog – was stopped by the Ukrainian again and, following widespread reports of a fight-day party hosted by his family that perhaps undermined his preparations, the sense of instability around him has again increased.
