REVEALED: Daniel Dubois was forced to take a £280 taxi ride to Heathrow, sleep at the airport and take a connecting plane to Düsseldorf after his Ryanair flight from Stansted was CANCELED ahead of his title fight with Oleksandr Usyk
- Daniel Dubois will face Oleksandr Usyk on Ukraine’s National Independence Day
- The Ryanair flight that was supposed to take Dubois directly to Poland was cancelled
- It cast doubt on the fight, but after a long-winded journey, Dubois succeeded
The best-laid plans for the biggest fight of Daniel Dubois’ life were thrown into disarray by the chaos at Stansted.
The Ryanair flight that was scheduled to take Dubois direct to Poland on Sunday night in preparation for Saturday’s mandatory challenge against world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk was one of several canceled flights at the airport.
Dubois had to return for a long £280 taxi ride to Heathrow where they arrived at an airport hotel at 2am.
After three and a half hours of sleep, he and his team were awakened for an early Monday flight to Düsseldorf. After waiting for a connecting plane, they arrived in Wrocław 24 hours later than planned.
“It was chaos when we got to Stansted,” says Dubois. “Ryanair… for God’s sake! There was an evacuation of the departure hall in progress.
Daniel Dubois (above) fight with Oleksandr Usyk erupted into chaos when DDD’s flight to Poland was canceled from Stansted airport
He was forced to take a £280 taxi ride to Heathrow, sleep at the airport and take a connecting plane to Düsseldorf after his Ryainair flight from Standsted was canceled
Dubois and Usyk will compete for the WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine world titles on Saturday
“People were screaming and passing out and there was some fighting. Angry. Crazy. We had to get out. My father, for example, couldn’t stand it.
‘We were all tired when we got here, because we had missed a day of preparations. But I slept well and we’re back on track now.’
Don Charles, Dubois’ new trainer, says: Daniel is relaxed now. We’ve adjusted to the lost day and it’s ready to go.”
Dubois and Usyk participated in a courteous final media conference. The highlight was the presentation to Usyk of a work of art made from used grenades from the Ukrainian battlefield by troops with whom he recently spent time.