Don Charles expects Tyson Fury to “rag-doll” Oleksandr Usyk if and when the time comes for them to contest the undisputed heavyweight title – and also believes that the Ukrainian wouldn’t have been able to compete with the Klitschkos.
Fury and Usyk have emerged as the world’s leading heavyweights in the era following that of the Klitschko brothers Vitali and Wladimir, and to the extent that on Saturday, Charles’ fighter Daniel Dubois was stopped by Usyk in nine rounds.
The fight for his IBF, WBA and WBO titles represented the third occasion Charles has led a fighter into a world heavyweight title fight – in 2012 Vitali Klitschko successfully defended the WBC title against Derek Chisora, who also challenged Fury for the same title in 2022. Chisora’s fight with Vitali followed the cancellation, at late notice, of a previous date with Wladimir; Charles has therefore studied all three Ukrainians and led Chisora into three fights with Fury, and believes that Usyk is by some distance fourth best.
“There’s no comparison,” said Charles, who in the build-up to challenging Usyk worked with Dubois for the first time. “Vitali would brutalise him if they fought.
“He couldn’t live with those heavyweights; Lennox Lewis, the Klitschko brothers. Tyson Fury will play with him. Rag-doll him. Size; ability; awkwardness. Overwhelming advantages Fury has over him.
“The things he does will not work against Fury. He stood more [against Dubois]; he wasn’t running.”
Charles recruited James Ali Bashir, not only Usyk’s former trainer but once the long-term assistant of the late Emanuel Steward, to help him to prepare Dubois for Usyk.
They had met in 2010 in the build-up to the cancelled fight between Chisora and Wladimir Klitschko, and after gelling together throughout their preparations for Usyk-Dubois, Charles plans to offer the American a long-term role.
“The plan for me and him to work together was always going to happen – this was the perfect opportunity, as the former trainer of Usyk,” the Finchley-based trainer continued. “He’ll only come [to London] for camps.”
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