Don Charles likens it to a relay.
The coach of IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois started work with the big Londoner 14 weeks before he took on Oleksandr Usyk for the first time two years ago and, following that loss, guided him to wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.
But, in terms of Dubois’ career renaissance, and at just 27, Charles sees himself as running a leg in the relay having been given the baton in a strong position.
Charles admits Dubois’ loss to Joyce “made him go back to the drawing board.”
He replaced first coach Martin Bowers with, initially, Mark Tibbs before moving on to Shane McGuigan.
Family politics played a role in Dubois moving to Charles, although sister Caroline – WBC lightweight champion – remained with McGuigan.
But Charles is full of praise for the work the men before him did with Dubois.
“The Joyce loss made him go back to the drawing board,” explained Charles. “What did he do? He changed coaches, right? He went to Mark Tibbs, I believe he did, but he never had a fight under Mark Tibbs. They weren’t together for long. Then he went to Shane McGuigan who remoulded him and they’ve done great things with Shane, especially the Kevin Lerena fight. Now, I’m coach.”
Charles is full of admiration for the work McGuigan did with the heavyweight, particularly during a crucial time during the 2022 fight that saw Dubois down three times, struggling with a damaged knee, before stopping the South African in the third round.
McGuigan guided him through the crisis.
“People don’t understand how difficult it is for the coach to not to panic in that instance,” said Charles.
“Shane never panicked. He kept his cool to be able to guide, give the right instructions because he [Daniel] went down three times, because his knee gave way. In most cases, you say pull him out of the fight because his knees have gone.
"Shane was able to guide him, keep calm, which keeps the fighter calm. Don’t panic. Gave him the instructions to then deliver what was a horrible KO inflicted on Kevin Lerena. Because had Shane panicked, he could have said, ‘Referee, pull this fighter out.’ Nobody would accuse him of looking after the fighter’s well-being. He didn’t do that. He kept calm. It’s almost like a plane is going to crash, God forbid, and the control tower is giving the pilot the right instructions, and they were able to bring that plane down safely. That’s what that was. Shane did magnificently for him. Shane also won him the regular belt, the WBA [against Trevor Bryan].”
But it is not only McGuigan Charles lavishes with praise.
“I look at this as a relay,” Charles said. “Okay. Martin Bowers ran a bloody good leg because he was unbeaten for a bloody long time. Then Mark Tibbs picked it up. They didn’t have a fight with him and they split before he even had a fight. He went to Shane. Shane run a magnificent leg with his baton. Then he handed the baton over to me. I received a really good baton and I took off. My thing is now to, we’ve already won gold in becoming a world champion, but I’m not satisfied. He [Daniel]’s not satisfied. We want to beat Usyk, get the revenge on Usyk, become the undisputed. Then we collectively, Martin Bowers, Mark Tibbs, Shane McGuigan and myself, we’ve won gold for our country. That’s how my head works. I didn’t do this alone. I don’t want to take all the credit because had I not inherited the ready-made fighter, they’d already built a wicked, solid foundation.”
Charles, 64, is modest about his own contributions.
“But I’m a realist,” he said. “I’m a realist in the sense it’s the truth. The truth, if you break it down, that is what happened.”
