Daniel Dubois is the IBF heavyweight titleholder. The sanctioning body’s No. 1 spot is vacant, but at No. 2 is Derek Chisora.
Of course, Dubois would have to retain his title in a draw or victory over Oleksandr Usyk in London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday to even think about that fight, but the bout is one that gives trainer Don Charles sleepless nights.
Charles trains Dubois now, but he spent much of his time alongside the erratic Londoner Chisora.
While he and Chisora have had their ups and downs, it is not a fight Charles is desperate to see, even with Chisora coming off wins over Gerald Washington, Otto Wallin and Joe Joyce. At 41, Chisora has gone to the well countless times in his 36-13 (23 KOs) career.
Dubois is a far more youthful 27, and has knocked out everyone he has beaten, barring veteran journeyman Kevin Johnson on the way up.
Although WBO mandatory Joseph Parker should be at the front of the queue for whoever wins the heavyweight showpiece this weekend, Charles knows Chisora is near a shot.
“That still might be the case,” Charles told BoxingScene. “Derek’s the mandatory, so that could still be on. I have to be a professional. I wouldn’t want that to be the case, but the guy I’m training right now I wouldn’t want to leave out in the wilderness.
“And Derek also has an obligation. Derek wants to make history, Derek wants to make money. Who am I to tell him? I’d love to be in a position to say, ‘Derek, don’t take the fight.’ ‘Derek, however many million you want, here it is, don’t have this fight.’ I’m not in that position, far from it. If that’s what materializes, it means we’ve been successful against Usyk and we will worry about that afterwards.”
There are, of course, many who no longer wish to see Chisora fight. For others, he remains a guilty pleasure. Either way, Chisora has stated he wants 50 fights before retiring, so that means the next is the last.
“He’s stubborn, he’s got big balls, big heart,” Charles explained. “People told him to retire five years ago for his own safety; he’s still fighting. He’s putting food on the table for his family. I wouldn’t condemn that. When they’re giving out heart, when they’re giving out balls, when God was blessing people with parts of bodies they need to survive in this world, Derek was in front queue for heart, toughness.”
Ultimately Chisora has fallen short in his two world title bids, to Vitali Klitschko and Tyson Fury, and Charles’ first world champion is Dubois.
“It wasn't his destiny, because he tried,” Charles added. “He gave it a good go. He had two goes at it. Vitali Klitschko and Tyson Fury most recently, you know, for the world titles. So we came close. He won everything else: European, multiple international belts and two cracks at the world title. We came so close, but we never crossed that line.”
Now Charles is very much central to the Dubois business, though the 64-year-old thought that when he and Chisora parted ways, his ambition of training a heavyweight champion left with him. Charles kept working, but he did not think a call would come from a future champion.
Then Team Dubois, in the throes of parting company with Shane McGuigan, reached out.
Charles had all but given up on that particular dream.
“I’m a God-fearing man,” he said. “How many more years can I be around working at the intensity I’m working to be able to produce this heavyweight champion? My window was slim. I’m 64 now. The only way this was going to happen was just to be standing outside the ring giving instructions to another coach. I don’t want to die, and I’m not planning to, but if I left the planet today, I’m happy. I’ll die happy. That’s how much it means.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
