Caroline Dubois moved a step closer to an undisputed lightweight title fight on Sunday, 8 November, after confronting Alycia Baumgardner in the ring in Arlington, Texas, moments after Baumgardner had won the IBF lightweight title. According to The Ring, Dubois, who holds the WBC, WBO and Ring magazine lightweight titles, was ringside for Baumgardner's fight and exchanged words with the American after the result was announced.
Baumgardner had earlier delivered a dominant performance against previously unbeaten IBF champion Elif Nur Turhan at College Park Center. According to The Ring, Baumgardner won by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the ten-round contest 100-90 in her favour, to become a two-division world champion. The fight was contested over three-minute rounds, and the win took Baumgardner to 19 wins and one defeat with seven knockouts, while Turhan suffered the first defeat of her career and falls to 14 wins and one defeat with eight knockouts.
Dubois has made no secret of wanting the Baumgardner fight. According to Sky Sports, the British champion is on a collision course with Baumgardner, and Dubois herself has said she wants an undisputed fight, ideally in London. The two have clashed before, and Dubois grabbed the microphone during Baumgardner's post-fight interview in Texas to press her case in front of the Arlington crowd.
There is, however, a fight in the way first. According to The Ring, Dubois, who is unbeaten in 15 fights with 14 wins, one draw and five knockouts, defends her titles against WBA champion Stephanie Han, who is unbeaten in 13 fights with three knockouts, in El Paso, Texas, on 20 February. Baumgardner has said she expects to fight the winner of that bout for the undisputed lightweight crown.
The lightweight division is now one of the strongest in women's boxing, with the four major belts spread across just three fighters. According to reports, Baumgardner moved up from super-featherweight, where she was the undisputed champion, to chase a second divisional title, and a meeting with Dubois would be one of the biggest fights women's boxing can make. Nothing has been signed yet, and any date would depend on Dubois first getting past Han in February.