Don Charles the man with ‘monster task’ for Daniel Dubois after cornering Derek Chisora in three brutal Tyson Fury fights
If it wasn’t growing up in a war-torn country, it was a fascination with local fights in rings held together by rope and bamboo that led Don Charles to where he is today.
The 61-year-old, born Charles Onyeneke, is consistently referred to as a Nigerian, but was born in what, until the end of a harrowing four-year civil war, was known as the Republic of Biafra.
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In reality, Charles could easily have joined the million-plus, including friends and family, who died through famine, fighting and disease and was saved only by the fact that his father, a banker, regularly learned of imminent attacks in enough time for them to make their escape from one of the numerous towns or villages in which they stayed.
It was his father’s profession that then brought Charles, then 14, his parents and siblings to London on 14 October 1974, at a time that ensured a young passion for boxing firmly grew. Muhammad Ali shocked the world by beating George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle on October 30 and because of his move to London, Charles was in a position to watch and became enthralled.
During his days as a young amateur fighter at Brixton ABC – he adopted his mother’s maiden name to fight under the name Charlie Eni – Charles took his first steps into one of several industries in which he would succeed. He opened in London four market stools and two high street shops selling women’s clothing but, with the lingering feeling that he had unfinished business, Charles, a more senior figure at his gym when Danny Williams and Julius Francis were progressing, started participating in unlicensed fights.
Perhaps appropriately, his business interests evolved and instead of retail, earned a lucrative contract to provide security on doors in Brixton. Charles demanded his doormen trained with him if they wanted to work, and his belief grew that he still had a future in boxing, even if it was then still almost two decades away.
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One step in that direction came in a 'frightening' episode when local gangsters threatened Charles with his life and forced him to concede the security contract he had been given. His days working doors regardless continued, albeit in London’s less hostile West End – on one night he still feared he was going to be shot outside of one of his posts; he had also endured a car being driven into one of those he had previously held – before a chance meeting led to his commitment to boxing, full-time.
In the years after Charles opened and sold a local flower shop that under his ownership provided the flowers for Miss World 2000, Derek Chisora, the heavyweight with whom Charles will forever be associated, came to his attention wearing a Finchley Amateur Boxing Club t-shirt in a petrol garage encounter in the north London town. A brief conversation resulted in them training together just a fortnight later and, eventually, Charles succeeding John Oliver as his full-time trainer.
Though then inexperienced, Charles had both ambitions and a vision. The difficult Chisora – a stubborn character short of natural talent – was dismissed in his amateur days as lacking the ability to succeed as a professional but was paid to fight for the first time in February 2007, in an era when the domestic heavyweight scene so desperately needed to be revived.
In his 13th fight, with Charles in his corner, Chisora stopped Charles’ one-time gym mate Williams to win the British title. Charles was also in his corner for his three fights with Tyson Fury, his two fights with Dillian Whyte, his fight with Vitali Klitschko, and the fight with David Haye that followed the fight at the press conference that left Charles with a broken jaw. All – demonstrating Chisora’s limitations at the highest level – were defeats, but together they recorded victories over Malik Scott, Carlos Takam and Kubrat Pulev on nights he was widely expected to lose.
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The trainer’s biggest regret, regardless, is that in 2010 Wladimir Klitschko withdrew from a scheduled title defence against Chisora four days before they were due to fight. The then-IBF and WBO champion had suffered a torn abdominal muscle, but instead of Chisora – an undefeated, 26-year-old fighter – being given a new date, Klitschko agreed terms to fight the then-WBA champion Haye.
It was in the days before Klitschko’s withdrawal – Chisora’s willingness and ability to absorb punishment to fight at close range, from where Klitschko may have been uncomfortable, contributed to Charles’ confidence in victory – that Charles met James Ali Bashir, then Emanuel Steward’s assistant.
Bashir worked under the late, great Steward for 17 years, and after Steward’s death in 2012 was recruited to train Oleksandr Usyk, a position he held until February 2017. More recently Charles was appointed to train Daniel Dubois for the fight with Usyk that has the potential to make or break Dubois’ promising career, and one of Charles’ first moves was to ask America’s Bashir to assist them.
Whether the paternal, spiritual Charles was identified as suitable to guide the 25-year-old Dubois on account of the extent to which Chisora overachieved or because of his friendship with Dubois’ previous trainer Shane McGuigan, the fight with Usyk – like Klitschko of Ukraine – presents Charles with an opportunity to finally challenge for the two heavyweight titles Klitschko had been due to defend against Chisora, as well as that of the WBA.
“This is a tall task for Don, and for Daniel, because it’s only been 15 weeks [together], and then the first task that they have to do is try to beat Oleksandr Usyk,” Bashir told talkSPORT. “That’s a monster task.
“I worked with some pretty good fighters. I worked with Wladimir Klitschko; I worked with Lennox Lewis; I worked with Eddie Chambers. Shannon Briggs. Jameel McCline. I worked with some pretty good talents over the years. [Usyk] might be the best that I’ve worked with outside of Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.”
Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois is live on talkSPORT from Poland on Saturday 26 August
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