The 33-year-old heavyweight parted company with Virgil Hunter following his third defeat in a row in December 2023 and when it came to finding a new trainer, it didn’t take long for the Frenchman to bond with Don Charles.

He told Boxing News magazine: “Sometimes in your life you need to go somewhere else to find a new challenge and that’s what I’ve found with Don Charles.

“I was supposed to meet with a lot of coaches but the first time I met with Don I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to stay with him’.

“It was his mindset, his mentality. I didn’t even train with him but as soon as I talked to him, I knew we would have a good relationship.

“I need to have a special relationship with my coach, like he’s my dad.

“In the ring, you can get knocked out or even die so you need to trust your coach blindly when he asks you to do something.”

However, the relationship almost came to an abrupt halt early on when Don refused to let Tony spar with one of his other fighters, Daniel Dubois.

The boxer said: “Don Charles didn’t want us to spar at first and I was p***** off.

“At that point, I just said I would stop coming to the gym.

“I was seeing guys, who aren’t good, getting knocked out [by Dubois] in sparring anf they were getting paid.

“But I wasn’t asking for any money, I just wanted to spar him.

“Then, when we finally sparred, the whole gym went silent.

“When I got out of the ring, everyone was like, ‘Woah’ – they were shocked. It was really good sparring.”