Daniel Dubois will return to boxing next year as he recovers from his knockout loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk halted Dubois in the fifth round of their undisputed heavyweight world championship bout at Wembley Stadium.
Only after the fight did it emerge that a pre-fight party, a “gathering” at his house before the fight, had delayed Dubois’ arrival at the venue for the contest.
As Dubois regroups, he will change his trainer, despite a run of success with Don Charles in his corner.
His promoter Frank Warren has warned that a situation like the pre-fight event cannot happen again.
“For me I don’t like the idea of gatherings and all that nonsense. Parties, gatherings whatever you want to call it,” Warren told Sky Sports. “The fact is he didn’t get there till just before, and that wasn’t appropriate.
“He got to the fight an hour and 20 minutes before the fight took place and that was just not good enough.
“It happened. Of course I’m not happy about it. But it what it is. I can’t change it. I could scream the place down but it’s not going to change what happened. All I can do is make sure that will never happen again.”
Warren has called for Dubois to learn from the incident. Although Dubois’ team did something similar ahead of his victory over Anthony Joshua, the promoter is adamant there cannot be a repeat.
“We all put a lot of work in preparation, a lot of work goes into from everybody involved. The trainers, the promoters and more importantly the fighter, we all work hard to make sure that things run smoothly,” he said.
“You can’t leave anything to chance. The name of the game is that when you’re in that ring you’ve done everything in your power to ensure that there can be no excuses for anything that goes wrong.
“We are where we are now and we can’t afford any more slip-ups. He’s learned from these things, learned from these situations.
“You can only keep giving the advice that you give to people. Sometimes people take it on board, sometimes they don’t. Some people learn from their mistakes, others don’t. It’s all about experiences in life. For him, he’s had a couple of bumps in the road and a couple of situations where I think under different circumstances, the fights may have been different.
“If you can’t learn from them, then boxing is not the game to being. Because you keep getting the same mistakes, you keep getting the same losses.”
If Dubois comes back in the right way, it could lead him to a major all-British heavyweight contest with rising star Moses Itauma.
“Daniel’s only 27 years of age. They’re all fights down the road. Daniel’s got to resurrect himself, get back in there, show what he’s all about, him and Moses down the road will be a huge fight,” Warren said.
After Itauma knocked out Dillian Whyte inside a round, Warren is plotting out his next steps for the 20-year-old prodigy. Filip Hrgovic or Jermain Franklin, durable contenders, could now be suitable opponents for Itauma.
“I think they’re all good fights for him,” Warren said. “The fights that we make we believe are at the right time for him.
“I just want to find somebody that goes into the fight who is a step up for him. If they’re a step up for him, if he gets rid of them quick, good luck to him. Of course, it’s a question – what’s he going to be like under the cosh over 12 rounds?”
But Warren noted: “You’d be surprised how many people turned him down, for [big] money.
“It must be brutal to fight him, the shots come in from every angle,” the promoter continued. “He’s got such a variety of punches and every punch he throws they’re meaningful and he gets his distance each time.
“I’ve got to be honest. I think at his age he’s probably one of the most talented fighters I’ve ever worked with.
“It’s absolutely important for boxing that we get a heavyweight like that and what’s important as well, and it’s a pleasure, that he’s British.”