Daniel Dubois working with Shane McGuigan after Mark Tibbs opts not to train South London heavyweight

Daniel Dubois will be trained by Shane McGuigan – with Mark Tibbs claiming he changed his mind over being in the South London heavyweight’s corner.

The Greenwich puncher announced in February that he had split from long-term trainer Mark Bowers to work with Tibbs.

But the experienced trainer was out in America preparing Billy Joe Saunders for his super-middleweight unification clash with Canelo Alvarez earlier this month.

But Tibbs – talking to Boxing Social – has hinted that he got cold feet over working with Dubois due to the involvement of his father.

He said: “I was sending over schedules. His father got in contact with me. I never, ever spoke to Daniel in probably two years – more than that. And while I was sending over schedules, his father asked if I could talk to him on the phone. But he put me on loudspeaker, and I don’t consider that to be talking to him.

“My dad [Mark] was overseeing his coaching, I was happy with that – along with Steven Andrews.

“But then I got back from Dallas on the Monday morning. I still had a bit of jetlag but I made contact with Daniel’s father and said: ‘We’re going to meet up in the gym on Thursday and we’re going to train Thursday, Friday and Saturday and I will be booking some sparring for you the week after that’ to evaluate him myself. I was getting feedback from my father, who I obviously trust because of his experience.

“I had one session with Daniel. I knew he had a fight on June 5 or 6. I’ve been down this road before with fighters and their fathers and I didn’t want to go down this road again.

“I got a text from Stan Dubois, Daniel’s father, in the evening telling me what is going on the next day – that we’ve got a slot with BT Sport. It was a difficult decision because I feel Daniel has got potential but I didn’t want to go ahead with the contract.

“I rang Frank Warren up and told him. He was a little bit shocked, but understood. I rang Tony Bowers up, his manager, he was shocked but understood as well. Then I informed Mr Stan Dubois and wished them luck with their career but said ‘this ain’t for me’. I just wasn’t feeling right about something.

“Shane is a good trainer.”