Caroline Dubois dominated the highly ranked Magali Rodriguez on Saturday night, dropping the tough Mexican twice en-route to the comprehensive decision victory.
The victory earned Dubois (8-0, 5 KO’s) the IBO lightweight belt but the unbeaten Londoner has her heart set on much bigger prizes.
Despite being embroiled in a rivalry with undisputed super lightweight queen, Chantelle Cameron, Katie Taylor remains the undisputed lightweight champion and maintains an iron grip on the 135lb division.
Taylor hasn’t defended the belts since outpointing Karen Carbajal last October but given her status in the sport and the fact that she remains unbeaten at the weight, it would take a brave governing body to strip the Irish legend. It may be frustrating, but Dubois and her team might need to wait until Taylor and Cameron have settled their business before finding a route forward. They won’t need to wait too long. The Cameron – Taylor rematch will take place in Dublin on November 25th. Cameron handed Taylor her first professional defeat in May.
Rodriguez is still only 31 years old but is a 15 year veteran of the sport. She earned a majority draw with the highly ranked Estelle Mossely in April – dropping the French Olympic gold medallist along the way – but has spent her career bouncing around the weight divisions. Her wealth of experience was no match for Dubois’ youth, size and talent.
“She came out swinging. Even when I dropped her, she really wanted it and that was exactly what I needed,” Dubois told Sky Sports after the fight. “I think it was my career best performance in the ring, but there’s so much more for me to give. I really wanted the knockout, as you can tell. I’m 22. What’s going to happen when I’m 25, 26? I’m going to start knocking these girls spark out, I promise you.”
Still only 22 years old, Dubois has grown professionally and personally during the past twelve months and seems certain to eventually rule the lightweight division. The onus now falls on her team to figure out a way through the political mire.
“Obviously the lightweight world titles have been held stagnant for a while now,” Dubois’ promoter, Ben Shalom, told Sky Sports. “Katie Taylor has been the star of women’s boxing, but Caroline Dubois is the new star of women’s boxing and I’m sure one of the big four sanctioning bodies will recognize that too.”