By Jake Tiernan: Trainer Don Charles says his fighter Daniel Dubois is “not phased” by the mind tricks that unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has been attempting during the build-up for their fight this Saturday, August 26th at the Aug. 26 at the Tarczyński Arena Wrocław in Wroclaw, Poland.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) has been rapping & singing to the 25-year-old Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) during their face-offs at the press conference, and Charles insists that these tactics are falling on deaf ears.
It’s unclear whether Usyk’s intent is to intimidate Dubois because it’s possible that he wants the robotic Brit to loosen up because his personality has been nowhere to be found during the build-up.
Dubois’ flat affect and wooden personality have put the burden of building interest in the fight on the shoulders of Usyk, as it’s been left up to him to get boxing fans excited about their 12 round contest.
Usyk-Dubois event will be shown on ESPN+ at 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT.
Dubois has already lost once, losing to Joe Joyce by a tenth round knockout in 2020, and he came close to losing his last fight against Kevin Lerena.
The British referee gave Dubois a TON of slack by choosing not to stop the fight after he’d been knocked down three times by Lerena in the first round in London.
After that dreadful performance, Dubois is getting a title shot against Usyk, which is the primary reason why virtually no one is giving the big 6’5″ Brrit a chance of winning.
“I’ve never tasted Wilder’s punches on the pads. I can only talk about who I’ve taken on the pads. His [Dubois] power suggests that. He’s got a 95% knockout ratio,” said trainer Don Charles to Secondsout, comparing the power of Daniel Dubois to that of Deontay Wilder.
Dubois has many knockouts, but the guys he’s stopped were pedestrian-level blokes that almost anyone in the top ten would knock out.
You could throw the same guys in with a fringe contender like Martin Bakole, and he’d have a similar KO percentage, but he wouldn’t lose to Joyce.
“With Daniel, it’s all about temperament,” said Charles. “He’s a cool guy; he’s not phased at all. Even if Usyk starts doing his rap, singing & juggling balls, Daniel is not phased at all. He’s very focused. Some fighters that would affect them, but Daniel is not phased at all.”
Some would argue that Dubois’ failure to react to Usyk’s so-called mind game is more a product of a lack of personality than him being this stoic, unphased fighter that Charles is portraying him to be.
“In the previous press conferences with Usyk, he would say a few things, and I would interject and try to defuse it. Daniel doesn’t care what Usyk says or does,” Charles continued. “He just wants to get in there and fight him.
“Usyk has faced heavy punchers in the past like Anthony Joshua, and he has been able to negate his way around it. I don’t think he’s going to do anything different. If he does, we’ve made different provisions for anything he’s going to come with. We’re good for it.
“This Saturday, it could be any round; I predict we’re going to win this fight by an emphatic stoppage. In our favor, you’re going to see our boy, Daniel Dubois, be crowned unified heavyweight champion of the world.
“As I sit here, I’m buzzing. The fighter is buzzing; the team is buzzing. We can’t wait for it to come. It’s been how many weeks? It’s been seventeen weeks. This is the seventeenth week since I’ve been working with Daniel.
“All the work we’ve done, although we haven’t been together long, but we’ve made the best of the time that we’ve had together. Every second has counted, and we’re destined; he’s destined for this.
“This is his whole participation in professional boxing. It’s been pointing to the 26th of August. It has been written already, in my opinion, and we will prove that on Saturday,” said Charles.
