Inside Don Charles' custom gym built for Daniel Dubois

Don Charles built a boxing gym inside a converted barn on farmland north of London with one fighter in mind. He hung a massive print of Lunch atop a Skyscraper across one wall — the famous Depression-era image of ironworkers eating sandwiches on a girder 1,000 feet above Manhattan — because he sees heavyweight boxing the same way: high stakes, total composure, one slip from disaster.

The facility was completed in time for Daniel Dubois' camp ahead of his September knockout of Anthony Joshua at Wembley, which sits visible from the property. Charles put up a second banner himself the night before Dubois arrived, a black-and-white print reading "Dynamite Daniel Dubois. World Heavyweight Champion." He told The Ring Magazine he nearly broke his neck installing it so Dubois would see it on day one. "I welcomed him and said 'this is your gym, this is for your camp,'" Charles recalled. "I was very tearful."

Dubois' brief exit to Tony Sims and return to Charles

Dubois left for Tony Sims' Essex gym after losing his IBF belt to Oleksandr Usyk in July but returned to Charles five months later, reuniting ahead of Saturday's clash with WBO champion Fabio Wardley in Manchester. Charles said the departure stung. "When Daniel left it left a big void because every time I walked in here it didn't feel the same," he told The Ring. "The guy I built it for was no longer here."

Charles never considered taking down the Dubois banner. He said the 28-year-old is part of the gym's history regardless of where his career leads, and he wants to one day recreate the skyscraper photo with all the heavyweights he has trained lined up on a beam. The gym features theater lights Charles bought on Facebook Marketplace to simulate fight night conditions. He calls the whole setup a bet he made on Dubois with money he did not have. "I'm not a rich man but I pushed the boat out to do the AJ camp here," he said.

Dubois challenges Wardley on Saturday in a bout Queensberry has billed "Don't Blink."

Source: ringmagazine.com