Project Dynamite: The builders behind the renovation of Daniel Dubois

Sometimes on a bad day all you need is acknowledgement. No matter how it comes, or where it comes, all you need is to be noticed, appreciated, and reminded of your relevance at a time when you yourself may have started to doubt it. This is true when at work and perhaps never truer than when travelling to or from a place of work; when trains have been delayed or cancelled; when you find yourself sitting among fellow commuters wrestling with similar thoughts. 

Kieran Farrell, while on his way home one Thursday in September, came to understand this. He had earlier that day been in the boxing gym, his office, training Daniel Dubois, yet was now stuck on a train, surrounded by passengers as desperate as him to get home and as vexed by their inability to do so. There were delays, then there were cancellations, and all of a sudden Farrell, sedentary and fed up, was in need of a reminder; a reminder that no journey is wasted and that Dubois’ next fight, against Anthony Joshua on September 21, meant something in the world beyond the four walls of the gym on Don Charles’ farm. Get it, this sign, and it would be considerably easier for Farrell to ignore the fact his train home had been terminated four times and that he wouldn’t get home until six o’clock, three hours after he had held pads for Dubois. 

“It was good, though,” says Farrell, the type to always find a silver lining, “because on the train everyone was talking about Dubois and AJ. I had my Dubois tracksuit on and someone asked me if I boxed. I said, ‘No, I’m helping train Daniel Dubois for the AJ fight,’ and then suddenly I had the whole coach talking about the promo that came out that day.”

Whereas some people would have likely made that moment all about them, Farrell would extract from it a different kind of satisfaction. It was, to him, not a moment to shine or boast but instead an opportunity to remind himself why he made this same trip every day and why, even when the trip was inconveniently prolonged, it was still worthwhile and exciting. This, after all, was now Kieran Farrell’s job. For now, the dream job. 

“I needed a right-hand man,” says Don Charles, Dubois’ head coach. “I needed a coach who wasn’t going to come and dismantle what we were building. We needed someone who would recognize the good habits he (Daniel Dubois) has and also recognize the bad habits; to then build and develop the good and reduce and eventually eradicate the bad. 

“When we brought in Kieran, he understood our ethos of boxing. We like pressure fighters but encourage it safely, not recklessly. He works within that same perimeter and he not only has the same approach as us but he is a very fast pad man. We needed that to add to what the fighter has. He has also been in the ring since he was a child and understands a fight. 

“I have known him since he was a boy, when he used to come and spar people at my gym, so it’s nice to have come full circle now and be working together. He has great energy and brings to the gym positive vibes which you need. It was a really good addition.

“I’m getting old now – I’m 63 in December – and Kieran is basically a younger version of me. With his speed and knowledge, and with my knowledge and technique, it’s a winning combination. The fighter benefits massively from this partnership.”

Born and raised in Manchester, Farrell, the latest addition to the Dubois camp, only relocated to Brentwood, Essex last year; a move motivated by a desire to have his children grow up in a nicer area and attend better schools. He had no idea at the time where the journey south would ultimately lead. 

“I came down here and then Joe Gallagher (a fellow coach) got in touch with me and offered me a job at the Mike Tyson boxing gym in Saudi Arabia,” Farrell explains. “I was there for about seven weeks. It was good but different. It was hard to get used to being away from my family and it wasn’t for me. My missus was actually six months pregnant while I was over there and I didn’t really want to be in Saudi Arabia at that time. My son got a bit poorly, too, so I came back and a week later Daniel Dubois messaged me on Instagram. He said, ‘I’ve heard you’re pretty good at doing the pads. Fancy coming to do some work with me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sound,’ but I’m thinking, This is fucking mental. It’s mad. I saw him at a show four years ago and I took a picture with him and wrote, ‘The future of heavyweight boxing.’

“Also, I didn’t know how working together would go because Daniel Dubois is like six-six and a killer. I know I’ve done a lot of pads for a lot of pros, but I can safely say I’ve never held them for someone as big as Daniel Dubois; or someone who hits as hard as Daniel Dubois.”

More than just a pad man, Farrell has experience as a pro boxer, with his own four-year career brought to a sad and premature end by an injury suffered in a loss – his only loss – against Anthony Crolla in 2012. Since then, he has carried the same infectious enthusiasm he displayed in the ring into his work in the gym, where he has for the past decade trained all manner of fighters – from young amateurs right through to title-winning pros. He has, by the age of 34, sampled every taste the sport has to offer, both the sweet and the sour, and is therefore now blessed with a unique combination of boyish eagerness – to please, to thrive – and a mature, knowing eye. 

“I’ve always been a fan of Dubois and, even as a fan, there were things I wanted to implement in his boxing,” Farrell says. “For starters, I wanted him to move his head a bit more. 

“When I went there, I spoke to Don Charles, who I’ve known for about 12 years now, and Don said to me, ‘Just freestyle,’ because they wanted to have a look at me. It was a bit of a trial basically. They had had a few people come up and do the pads and Don said they were all trying to change his style. But what he really wanted was just a few things implemented. When I came and did my freestyle, he was like, ‘Fuck me, this is what I want.’ 

“That was in March. Daniel Dubois’ dad then texted me and said he had two fights planned: (Filip) Hrgovic and then, if he beats Hrgovic (which Dubois did, stopping him in eight rounds), he gets AJ. I was buzzing.” 

To say Farrell’s first day on the job was memorable would be an understatement. He didn’t just leave the gym that day with ideas and inspiration. He left with marks.

“It was painful,” he says, laughing, “but I enjoyed it. Me and my wife were talking before it and she was like, ‘You’re going to have to buy some high heels and get bigger pads.’ But no, I turned up with my trainers on, and my thin little Winning pads, and it went well. 

“The back of my hands were killing, though. It was like when you have been doing a triceps press and have sore arms the next day.” 

It was the same process Charles, the man driving the Dubois train, had already gone through himself. Brought on board before Dubois challenged Oleksandr Usyk in August 2023, Charles naturally had things he wanted to say, changes he wanted to make, and tricks he wanted to try. Yet he also understood the importance of drip-feeding information to a fighter and not overwhelming them with too many new ideas. He was just as keen to assess exactly what he had at his disposal before even considering taking it apart. 

“Every new coach, when they link up with an athlete, will always have their own ethos and ideology,” he says. “In some cases, there may be things that don’t need changing. But there are always areas for improvement. A new coach will identify those areas and try to work on them. You have to recognize the style of the boxer and try not to ruin them or change things for the sake of it. 

“Daniel was already an established fighter when I inherited him. I wouldn’t say my work was easy but it was easier because I wasn’t having to build him from scratch. He was a ‘regular’ WBA champion, so he came with a lot already. He’s probably the most recognized and established boxer I’ve inherited in the 20 years I’ve been doing this. Because of that we were able to accelerate him and within 12 months he is the official IBF world champion.

“He didn’t have an extensive amateur career; he turned pro at 19 and he’s 27 now. He’s been learning on the road, on the job. If you look at the calibre of fighters he has beaten, for a kid who didn’t have an extensive amateur career he has done remarkably well.”

In truth, part of the reason why Dubois, 21-2 (20), has been fast-tracked owes to the current lack of depth at heavyweight, evident once you scratch beneath the three or four elite heavyweights at the top. Yet another reason why Dubois has been able to move quickly, and stay active, has more to do with his punch power, which was detected in him early and gives the man known as “Dynamite” an ability to finish proceedings before a sweat, never mind a fight, has broken out. 

“I noticed the power before I even started working with him,” says Charles. “You’ve only got to see some of his knockouts to understand how hard he punches. His knockout percentage is something like 97.5 per cent. That tells you everything. Then I started training him and, yeah, you could see why. I’ve trained a lot of heavyweights and he’s right up there at the top in terms of power. He has freakish power. 

“But he’s got so much to his game aside from that power – and some elements of that he hasn’t shown yet. Daniel can do all different types of styles and actually has quite a lot of flair. Every so often he demonstrates that in the gym and I’ll be like, ‘Yes, do that again, Dan! Do that again!’”

The idea of Daniel Dubois showing flair, or anything beyond power and aggression, seems at odds with the heavyweight we have grown accustomed to seeing in recent years: bowling ball shoulders, blank expression, stiff posture, stiffer punches. But it is perhaps a mark of the Londoner’s willingness to learn, not to mention his athleticism, that he can now, at 27, do things besides simply hitting a static target and waiting for this target to disintegrate in front of him. It is also a testament to the work both Charles and Farrell have done with him in just a short space of time.

“I think I’ve helped with his footwork and how he throws certain shots,” says Farrell. “We work a lot on the speed of the shots. I’ll be honest, I just do what I do, and when I come and bring what I do, people say to me, ‘F**k me, I’ve never done the pads so fast in my life.’ But it doesn’t feel fast to me. I’m used to it.”

Farrell adds: “Daniel Dubois is just like me and that makes it easy to work with him. He just lives the sport. He doesn’t do anything else, man. He just loves it so much. Don’s the same as well. But when I look at Daniel Dubois it’s like looking in a fucking mirror. He’s just a much bigger version of me really. He’s been boxing since he was seven, like me, and he trains four or five times a day now. There’s no getting away from it. If anything, you have to tell him to stop training. You have to say, ‘Listen, bro, slow down.’ He’ll want to do sprints before a day of sparring and you have to tell him no.

“Also, people are seeing him come out of his shell now. Daniel is a fucking really good lad, man. He’s a good laugh as well. People just haven’t seen that before from him.

To get through to Daniel Dubois, or indeed any fighter, a coach must first understand them and their ways. They must understand what makes them tick and what drives them. They must understand, too, that no two fighters are the same. 

“He’s a fine young man,” says Charles. “He’s a very, very unique young man. A unique personality. A unique fighter. What more can I say? He’s a very pleasant person to work with. 

“In the gym, it’s a very professional environment. He’s a very serious and quite intense character when it comes to his boxing. It is his profession. We all gel really well because once we are there (in the gym) we are there for one thing and that’s to work. 

“Daniel is a very regimented individual. For a young man he has great discipline in the way he approaches what he does. He has a no-nonsense sort of attitude. He comes to train. There is no chit-chat or messing around. He just wants to work and put a shift in. I like that. I’m a guy with great discipline. I grew up like that. Away from boxing I’m very disciplined and I apply that to the boxing. Coincidentally Daniel also comes from a very strict background. All the (Dubois) children have discipline; they have manners. When you apply that to your profession, no matter what it is, it works out well, and that discipline and that focus stands you in good stead. It’s refreshing, to be quite honest.”

If power does end up being a deciding factor against Joshua this weekend, of equal importance will be discipline and focus. In fact, history would indicate that discipline and focus usually help a fighter not only guard themselves against the power of an opponent but also, when the time comes, execute the kind of attack – or shot – they will have practised for weeks in the gym. 

“Daniel can punch as hard as anyone at heavyweight,” says Farrell. “If he touches anyone on the chin, they can go to sleep, it’s as simple as that. But it works both ways. If AJ catches Dubois, he’s got the same chance – the same sort of power. That’s why it’s a really good fight.”

“It’s going to be the fight we want it to be,” stresses Charles. “Joshua is a fantastic fighter; a top operator. You only have to look at what he has achieved to see the quality. He is a top-level fighter and this is our hardest fight. 

“It’s going to be explosive and aggressive, but it will be controlled aggression. He (Dubois) will follow the game plan as closely as he possibly can and we’ll definitely be victorious in this fight, I have no doubt. We’re all working hard and we’re all doing what we can to aid Daniel on the night.”

As well as power, controlled aggression, focus and discipline, another key factor on the night will be experience. That is something all the men involved are forever accruing, whether they find themselves in the middle of the ring or in one of its corners, and something, in the context of stadium fights, Joshua in particular has in spades. 

“I’ve been there before, so I’m kind of used to it,” says Charles. “Experience is a great thing. I’ve been in a lot of big fights as a coach, so I am well-seasoned. Daniel has had some big fights, too. We fought abroad (Poland) in a big stadium – 45,000 people – against Usyk. He also fought at White Hart Lane on the undercard of (Tyson) Fury versus (Derek) Chisora. He’s used to those occasions. In the last 14 months he has come through adversity and now he’s on a roll. He is now like a boat, sailing nicely.” 

“We all share the same dream in that gym and we all want to beat AJ at Wembley,” says Farrell. “It doesn’t get any bigger. You look across Don’s farm and you can see the big arch of Wembley. It’s madness. Every time I get in the car to go back to the train station, I look at that and I’m like, ‘Fucking hell, in two weeks’ time there will be 90,000 in there and I’ll be in the corner.’ 

“For Daniel, for Daniel’s family and team, it doesn’t matter. It could be behind closed doors for all we care. It’s about Daniel and AJ in the ring. It doesn’t matter where the ring is. All that matters is what happens inside it on the night. For every fan watching it, either in the stadium or at home, all I’ll say is this: it’s going to be some fucking fight.”

At last, they are ready to move, no more delays. With a full carriage, Don Charles, Kieran Farrell, and everyone else seated on the Daniel Dubois train have some forward motion. The track has now cleared. They know their next stop. They know, more importantly, the final destination.