Caroline Dubois isn’t ready to let a fight against Terri Harper escape her and is confident of setting up an all-British showdown between the pair next.
Dubois is gearing up to face Bo Mi Re Shin in a defence of her WBC lightweight belt on the undercard of Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price’s unification bout at the Royal Albert Hall this Friday.
Harper is poised to defend her WBO lightweight title against Natalie Zimmermann in Doncaster this May, with Dubois questioning her rival’s decision to overlook herself in favour of an “easy touch”.
Whenever it may be, wherever it may be, it is a fight Dubois intends to make happen.
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Caroline Dubois wants to remain grounded and is refusing to get complacent ahead of her WBC lightweight world title defence against Bo Mi Re Shin.
“One half of me understands why she’s done it. She’s had a career where she’s been put in hard fights and every time she’s stepped up against Sandy Ryan, Alycia Baumgardner, Cecilia Braekhus she’s had really tough fights, she’s been beaten and she’s been stopped,” Dubois told Sky Sports.
“She’s finally had the opportunity to get the belt back and she wants to hold onto it for as long as absolutely possible, defend it and fight in her home town to have this moment where she’s like ‘this solidifies me’.
“But on a personal level it’s disappointing that she’s taken that route, an easy touch against a girl who isn’t on our level.
“It’s disappointing, it isn’t how a world champion should act and behave but I get it and get why they would take that fight.”
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Terri Harper says she plans to face the best fighters in her division and that includes British rival Caroline Dubois.
Dubois has been rampant in the early years of her blossoming professional career, cruising out to a 10-0-1 record and having been upgraded to full WBC female lightweight world champion after Katie Taylor vacated the belt last December.
Harper is 15-2-2 having shared the ring with some of the biggest names in boxing, and has herself welcomed a fight against Dubois this year.
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Caroline Dubois says she wants bigger challenges but her power is making fights against the likes of Terri Harper hard to make.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Dubois continued. “I saw her do an interview where she said she would go down the Caroline Dubois route next. I think she’s got in her head that it’s the only fight that makes sense.
“Sure she’s fighting Zimmermann but she isn’t going to get paid a lot for that, isn’t going to get a lot of respect for that.
“Whereas fighting me, it’s a big show, a big occasion, good money, it’s a good fight and it makes sense. It’s a question of where does it happen right.”
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Highlights of the clash between Caroline Dubois and Jessica Camara.
For now, though, the 24-year-old isn’t ready to look beyond the unpredictability of South Korean challenger Shin, who arrives 18-2-3 after beating Ntomboqala Tolashe via unanimous decision last time out in December.
“With how rough and tough she is I think it’s going to be a learning experience for me, I’ve never fought a fighter like that who is so reckless and there’s danger to that,” said Dubois.
“They’re throwing and they don’t even know what they’re throwing so you have to prepare for that yourself.
“It’s always harder to fight somebody who doesn’t have finesse and conventional boxing ability. It’s always been easy to fight those who can shape up nicely, who throw underneath and can throw jabs and right hands.
“It’s tough to fight somebody who is so bad they are actually good, so we’ll see. I can think of many fighters with styles where you’re thinking ‘what are you doing?’ and they’re winning and they’re successful and they might be one.”
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Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom says he’s hugely excited for Friday’s historic all-female boxing card at the Royal Albert Hall.
Dubois returns to the ring for the first time since having to settle for a draw against Jessica Camara in January when her Canadian opponent suffered a cut to her eye in an accidental clash of heads.
She is braced for a rare case of an opponent going toe to toe and trading with her, but expects no different an outcome.
“I think she thinks she’s tough, but we’ll see how tough she is,” said Dubois.
“I don’t really focus on my opponents too much, it’s not really about them at this level, it’s about me and turning up and being the best me.
“If I can do that, turn up, be sharp and intelligent I’ll punch holes in her.”
Watch Natasha Jonas fight Lauren Price at the Royal Albert Hall live on Sky Sports on Friday March 7.
