Daniel Dubois will reportedly have Don Charles in his corner this weekend for his heavyweight clash with Anthony Joshua, despite rumours he has sacked his head trainer.

Dubois and Charles teamed up last year ahead of the Brit taking on Ukrainian great Oleksandr Usyk in Poland. Charles was unable to lead his charge to victory that night, but has since guided him to impressive wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic.

Dubois was subsequently named IBF heavyweight champion after Usyk vacated the belt, and is due to make his first defence against domestic foe Joshua at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night. But Charles was nowhere to be seen at the grand arrivals or the open workout earlier this week, leading to rumours that he had been fired just days before Dubois enters the ring.

However, Daily Star journalist Chris McKenna has revealed the real reason behind Charles’ mysterious absence.

‘Don Charles has a flu/cold and has stayed away from media events this week,’ McKenna posted on X on Thursday morning. ‘He won’t be at press conference or weigh-in. But he will be in Daniel Dubois’ corner this weekend.’

Rumours spread on social media that Daniel Dubois (right) sacked his trainer Don Charles (left)

Charles is actually ill, but is expected to be back in Dubois’ corner on Saturday night

Dubois is due to face fellow Brit Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night

Charles is the third permanent trainer of Dubois’ career. He started off in the professional ranks under Martin Bowers, before switching to the highly-rated Shane McGuigan.

Dubois won the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title under McGuigan’s tutelage by beating America’s Trevor Bryan in June 2022, but moved on from him after struggling past South Africa’s Kevin Lerena six months later.

He suffered a serious knee injury in that fight, and after a lengthy recovery period turned to Charles.

The 27-year-old has produced arguably the two best performances of his career with Charles in his corner, and it would be a huge shock if he did get rid of him.

But Charles is famous for training veteran heavyweight Derek Chisora, who is a close friend of Joshua’s.

Whether this played a part in the rumours of him being sacked is unclear, but it has now been revealed that Charles is staying away from Dubois to prevent him getting ill as well, and has every intention of training him for the biggest fight of his life this weekend.