'Not a surprise' – Dubois overhauls coaching team
Daniel Dubois has parted ways with head coach Don Charles after 18 months of working together.
The former world champion has also recruited Sam Jones as his new advisor as he makes sweeping changes to his team since losing to Oleksandr Usyk in July.
The fall-out from Dubois' defeat was dominated by questions about a pre-fight gathering.
Usyk, 38, demolished Dubois in five rounds and the Londoner is now looking towards a rebuilding job.
Dubois gave little away when announcing his departure from Charles. Tony Simms, Conor Benn's trainer, is the frontrunner to replace him.
"I feel like I need a fresh change and a new start for this next phase of my career where I look to become two-time heavyweight champion of the world," he said.
Was the change predictable and how would a new coaching partnership help the heavyweight? BBC Sport investigates.
'Scapegoat' needed for party fiasco?
Dubois has a history of chopping and changing his coaches.
As an amateur, his father Stan was keen to fast-track his son's progression as he hopped between several London amateur clubs.
As a professional Dubois has had stints with Shane McGuigan, Martin Tibbs and Martin Bowers.
Dave Coldwell, former coach of David Haye and Tony Bellew, says Dubois' decision to drop Charles "wasn't a surprise".
"That's how it seems to be in boxing," Coldwell says.
"A lot of times the coach gets the blame. A lot of times it seems to be when the fighter is winning, the coach is great. but when he gets beat the coach isn't good enough."
There is also the added tension of the pre-fight party. Dubois' promotional company Queensberry were unhappy when they discovered the event happened.
Charles went public in his defence of the party, organised in chief by Dubois' father, insisting it was not large and a similar "gathering" had been held before the world title win against Anthony Joshua last year.
"I feel you perhaps can't hold the coach accountable for that," Coldwell says.
"I feel as though there are other influences other than the trainer in terms of what happens with Dubois and what goes on around the fights."
Dubois has also dropped co-trainer Kieran Farrell from his coaching set-up.
Farrell and Charles helped guide Dubois to his first world title, but it is well known his father Stan also plays a big role in the decision-making, alongside promoter Frank Warren.
The addition of adviser Jones, Coldwell thinks, will suit Team Dubois as he does not "interfere with any of the training".
"Are there too many voices and things like that [in team Dubois]? In this day and age, Anthony Joshua has 162 people around him," Coldwell said.
"That's what happens with fighters – it's who you allocate the jobs to, are they the correct people, and do they stay in their lane or do they start interfering in situations they know nothing about? That's where the danger can lie."
What can a coach change do for Dubois?
Should his appointment be confirmed, Simms is no stranger to heavyweights.
Johnny Fisher recently joined his ranks while Simms has also worked with Joshua in the past.
The coach is in charge of the Matchroom Elite Boxing Gym in Essex, a short trip from where Dubois and his family live.
Dubois has bounced back successfully from two big defeats in his career, to Joe Joyce in 2020 and Usyk in 2023.
Warren is likely to match Dubois conservatively for his return bout and at 27 there is no rush to immediately get back into world title contention.
Coldwell does not expect Dubois to be transformed as a fighter but did identify one aspect a new coach could look to work on.
"Mentality is a big thing with Daniel Dubois," Coldwell says.
"We all know he can punch, he's got a good jab, he probably needs a bit better defence but he needs to also get his mentality sorted.
"I mean when things are going against him. He needs to learn how to cope with things when they aren't going his own way."
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