One is a former child soldier, the other lost 30% of his brain to a boxing injury, and together they've built the Briton into fighter who can challenge Usyk
'We understand human psychology because of what we went through rather than going to university to study it," Don Charles says as he sits alongside his assistant Kieran Farrell on an old church pew in his gym in Hertfordshire. The contrasting trainers explain how their extraordinary back stories have helped them unlock the reclusive and complex character of Daniel Dubois as he aims to beat Oleksandr Usyk and become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
"It's true because I've found a second life after I had a bleed on the brain," Farrell says as the 35-year-old from Manchester remembers the terrible injury he suffered in 2012 when he fought Anthony Crolla. "I lost 30% of my brain but it's incredible to now be working with Don who knew me when I was boxer."
Charles, a 63-year-old who fought as a child soldier in Biafra during the Nigerian civil war in the late 1960s, nods. "It's remarkable, Kieran," he says gently. "We've endured a lot. I've been through war and worked so many different manual jobs when I came to this country. I then became a florist before running a [security] company successfully for 16 years with 150 men and women on my books. I'd been on the doors [as a bouncer] in the West End and met every kind of human being. That's where I learnt about psychology."
Did he see death as a child in Biafra? "Hello?" Charles says sadly. "I used to walk over dead bodies. You’d be playing, and suddenly everyone starts screaming because death in my country is sacred. A child has dropped dead with kwashiorkor [severe malnutrition]. Then the bombs come, with the planes firing indiscriminately at least twice a day. Every household had a bunker, which we dug with our hands, so we could dive into it."
Charles was eight when he became a soldier but he was haunted most by starvation. "Kwashiorkor is a horrible form of malnutrition where you have skeletal bodies and swollen bellies, big eyes and an alien-looking head. I was very fortunate because my father worked for a bank. So I can relate to children in Gaza today but I can't watch their suffering. It triggers me because I know there's no need for these atrocities. I still have trauma but I haven't had counselling. Every time I speak about it deeply I break down and cry."
Farrell suffered his own trauma. I interviewed him twice in 2013, when he was broken and struggling to cope with brain damage, but the fragile hope he carried then has flowered into a story of resilience and courage as he has helped Charles prepare Dubois to defend his IBF world title and try to take the WBA, WBA and WBO belts from Usyk. Farrell remembers how Spencer Oliver, another former boxer who had also been in a coma, encouraged him.
"Spencer rang me when I couldn't get out of bed. He goes: 'Kieran, you need to open a gym.' I'm thinking: 'It don't work like that. I'm not well enough.' He was like: 'When you feel better, get your slippers on, walk up that road and speak to people about opening a gym.' So I got up and walked to this empty unit at the top of my street. I looked around the unit and all of a sudden my world opened up again. I wanted to start a gym for kids. Since then I've done loads with the community and with homeless people and ADHD kids. I got a British Empire Medal off the queen and that was a massive achievement.'
Farrell has also been a boxing promoter, a manager and a trainer and he smiles when I ask how he overcame the loss of nearly a third of his brain after the injury in the Crolla fight. “I was reading books because I’ve always been like a driven individual. I’ve managed 30 fighters and held about 16 professional boxing shows, as a promoter, with just help from my missus, Amy, in Belfast, Manchester, Blackpool and Yorkshire. But there were so many headaches and I love training fighters more.”
Charles also eventually became a trainer after years of gritty work. “In the 1980s I cleaned toilets for Shell Oil for five years while I was paying for my computer studies course at college,” he says. “I cycled from Streatham to the Shell depot in Wandsworth no matter the weather. I then worked on building sites doing demolition. Any wall you want taken away I’ll knock it down with a sledgehammer. I’ve been a road sweeper and worked in a meat factory in Woolwich - just like Rocky. It’s like I’ve lived 100 years.”
As a bouncer Charles “used diplomacy and psychology”, and sometimes his imposing strength, to maintain order. Those first two skillsets have been evident in the way in which he and Farrell work alongside Stan Dubois, whose strong influence over his son had been resisted understandably by some of Daniel’s previous trainers.
Charles adopted a different approach: “I heard that Stan could be a very dominant alpha-male but I’m not fazed. I’m the same colour as him, I’m of size. I don’t have no insecurities. I have two old church pews in the gym. This one where Kieran and I are sitting, and one over there [he points to a second black pew close to the ring]. I said to Stan on the first day: ‘You see that church pew? That’s yours.’ He always sits there.”
Does Stan attend many training sessions? “Nine times out of 10 he’ll be here. Some days he doesn’t say a word. Some days he’s very vocal to Daniel. Very stern. Daniel’s shadow boxing and the dad will give motivational talks. It’s bizarre but special. I’m a very deep person and sometimes I feel charged listening to this man—the positive way he’s talking. So we’re working in a unique way and the good results tell you everything.”
Since losing to Usyk in their first fight in August 2023, Dubois has reeled off impressive victories against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua. The battle against Miller was a real gut-check and the importance of the Dubois family dynamic became obvious.
“Daniel needs to hear his dad,” Charles says.“The Miller fight triggered it. Me and Frank [Warren, the promoter] realised we need to get Stanley officially in as the fourth ornerman.Watch the Miller fight and you can hear the father’s voice regurgitating what we’re telling Daniel.”
Charles remembers that “when I first started training Daniel I said to Stan:‘Have you used a sports psychologist?’I know within the black community the word psychologist is frowned upon.But I told Stan all the top sportsmen use one and he agreed to try.It didn’t last long but,while he was with us,the psychologist said to me:‘Have you observed that,when you’re speaking to Daniel,he will look at his dad before he answers?’Of course I had and he said:‘We’ll use this because his dad is a conduit.’”
There are still bizarre moments and Farrell and Charles laugh as they describe how Stan and 15 of his friends turned his son’s dressing room into a party an hour before he beat up Joshua last September. “This is not normal,” Charles says,“but we just went with it.”
Farrell recalls: “When Daniel walked to the ring the energy was incredible.” Charles confirms: “It was very tribal. Stanley Dubois is perceived within the boxing fraternity as this crazy, hard taskmaster. He is - but there’s a method to that madness. It turned out to be a genius move as it motivated Daniel.”
Farrell believes Dubois “has grown massively in confidence. From the first time I came in to now, he’s two different people.”
Charles agrees. “I love music during training and after a couple of weeks I said:‘Daniel,what music do you like?’He said:‘Whatever my dad plays at home.’I asked:‘Daniel,what’s your favourite food?’He said:‘Whatever my dad cooks.’It’s a unique relationship.I know his dad likes reggae and soul.So when Daniel comes to training,I put on Al Green,Otis Redding,Bob Marley.Now,every so often,I’m wrapping his hands and he’ll ask:‘Can you put on some Bob Marley,please?’He’s actually making requests.”
The two trainers nearly roll off their pew in amusement when I ask if Daniel and Stan ever ask them about their own amazing lives. “No,” Charles cackles. “Don’t be silly. Occasionally Daniel will say: ‘Everything good, Don?’ That’s as much as you’ll get out of him.”
Charles and Farrell first met in 2009 when the teenage boxer travelled from Manchester to London to spar with the trainer’s much more experienced fighter Ashley Theophane. Charles recalls the moment: “This baby-faced young man walked into my gym at Finchley with just a rucksack.I didn’t know nothing about him because Ashley had arranged it.I said:‘Where’s your coach?’He said:‘I didn’t come with one.’I told him:‘No problem.We’ll look after you.’”
Charles soon discovered that Farrell was a tough pressure fighter.Farrell,in turn,learnt more in a few short sessions than he had done for years in Manchester.Ten years after the near tragedy Farrell suffered in the ring they were happily reunited in late 2023 when they met by chance in Riyadh.And then,with another delicious twist of fate,Farrell’s padwork was recommended to Dubois Sr.
“Stan called me,” Charles explains,“and told me someone had tipped him off about this kid on the pads.He said:‘I’ll bring him to the gym tomorrow.Tell me what you think.’Come training hour Daniel and his father walk in—and guess who follows?Kieran—smiling ear to ear.I couldn’t believe it.
Kieran went in the ring with Daniel and—straightaway—he’s a natural on the pads.He had everything—speed,aggression,knowledge.And he’s not just a pads-man.He’s a serious coach and Kieran’s very giving too.Daniel’s father called me later and I said:‘That’s our man.’Stan is a deeply spiritual person—like myself—and he was amazed when I told him I’ve known Keiran since he was a kid.We have such a connection.’
Farrell joined the Dubois camp 15 months ago and Charles says: “hen I watch Kieran with Daniel it’s special.Kieran’s idea of boxing is the same as mine.Calculated aggression,not gung-ho,using slips and rolls.We have the same ethos,so the fighter is not confused.Kieran does what I do -but faster.Obviously I’ve got the wiser head but Kieran brings the energy and Daniel responds.We also leave our egos behind and allow the dad’s voice to be the one Daniel hears the clearest.It’s very unusual but the whole thing works beautifully.”