After Daniel Dubois' world heavyweight championship loss against Oleksandr Usyk on July 19, there was plenty more drama other than his knockout defeat. On the Monday following the fight, a video emerged of the British boxer holding an alleged house party at his mansion.
The rumors suggested it was hours before the big heavyweight unification fight. And now Dubois' trainer, Don Charles, has spoken out about the video, playing down the incident as a 'gathering'.
Daniel Dubois allegedly had a 70-person party at his house just hours before fighting Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) July 21, 2025
He pulled up to the venue less than 90 minutes before his ring walk pic.twitter.com/16An5zM7pg
Charles spoke to TalkSport and noted that it was the same thing they had done before the Anthony Joshua fight back in September 2024, a bout which Dubois won via knockout.
Let’s replace the word ‘party’ with ‘gathering’. It was a gathering, okay? Right. The same gathering, we used for the prep on fight day for the AJ fight. A lot was made of the ring walk when Daniel walked out in Wembley [to face Joshua], 96,000 people, and the energy... he was fired up.Don Charles
With the victory over Joshua, Dubois' father, who had organized the party, tried to replicate the same pre-fight ritual. The boxing trainer, who started working with Dubois in 2023, said it made logical sense to try to do that, but admitted there were more people this time around.
There might have been more people for this second gathering to get more energy, I'm a logical man and it makes logical sense. The AJ fight was big but this even trumps it, I try to understand and it may appear madness to people but it was the same thing that got us victory.Don Charles
It's not known what is next for Dubois after the devastating loss, with promoter Frank Warren saying his fighter would not return for at least six months. Names such as Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte have been mentioned.
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