Broken Dubois needs new team to lift him from canvas

Just a few weeks ago at Wembley Stadium, Daniel Dubois was dropped twice and stopped by Oleksandr Usyk in round five of their undisputed world heavyweight title fight. It was not a shock, but it was a brutal ending.

- STEVE BUNCE

Dubois lost his version of the world heavyweight title and there was, not for the first time, criticism of him at the end of the fight. There was a feeling, which seems harsh, that Dubois could have got up from the second knockdown.

A lot of high-profile boxers, including potential rivals Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora, insisted that Dubois quit at the end of the fight. It was an unusually open display of criticism and firmly placed him under unnecessary scrutiny so soon after the loss. Change, it seems, was needed.

On the night at Wembley, Dubois had Kieran Farrell and Don Charles in his corner; it was their fifth fight together and the relationship had actually started with a loss. Both Farrell and Charles are gone, victims of yet another regime change in the boxing business.

The loss in Poland against Usyk in their first fight together, in 2023, was a cruel baptism for Charles, but he believed in Dubois and he worked on his concentration; he certainly improved the boxer's ability to listen in the corner. He was not the first trainer to have a big loss on his first night in charge and then salvage a boxer's career.