On a crucial night for women’s boxing, Caroline Dubois signalled her arrival as the boxer to beat in the lightweight division, adding rival Terri Harper’s WBO title to her WBC strap.
The unification fight on Sunday took a while to catch fire before Dubois began to outwork her opponent, taking a wide unanimous decision 98–91, 97-92, 98-91 on the judges’ scorecards.
Following a staccato start to proceedings, Dubois turned the screw, limiting her domestic rival’s effectiveness throughout the contest. Harper showed bravery after suffering a cut above the left eye from an accidental clash of heads, but Dubois’s quality quickly shone through.
The duo had been swapping barbs for months leading up to the contest at the Olympia in London, adding a bit of spice to the affair. Although Dubois stated there was no bad blood following the fight, her words were pointed towards her opponent’s cautious approach. In the ring she claimed: “I started very well, Terri was very negative – we knew she would be. It was a bit tricky to get her.”
Dubois, who improved to 13-0-1 as a pro, went on to state that she had merely been promoting the fight with her comments in recent months. “It was never personal for me,” she said. “It was always personal for Terri. I’m a fighter and an entertainer. I talk the talk to be entertaining, this is why this fight was the most talked about, the most exciting. I know Terri Harper fans will be upset by the decision, but I’m an entertainer and this is what I do.”
After mainly bubbling away on the undercards of Boxxer shows since turning pro in 2022, Dubois was truly stepping into the limelight for the first time: top billing paired with her toughest challenge yet.
It had been 10 months since Harper’s last fight, a headlining homecoming in Doncaster, where the Yorkshirewoman made the first defence of her WBO lightweight title in protracted fashion against an underwhelming Natalie Zimmerman.
Harper entered the ring on Sunday having competed for world titles at four different weights ranging 24lb, from super-featherweight to super-welterweight. In contrast, Dubois had fought as a lightweight since she first reached prominence as an amateur, with all 13 of her professional bouts fought between 134 and 138lb.
Enjoy 185+ fights a year on DAZN, the Global Home of Boxing
Never miss a fight from top promoters. Watch on your devices anywhere, anytime.
Buy Now
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Enjoy 185+ fights a year on DAZN, the Global Home of Boxing
Never miss a fight from top promoters. Watch on your devices anywhere, anytime.
Buy Now
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
The increased quality level of opponent already posed enough questions for Dubois; the bout was super-charged by the animosity and rivalry that had festered between the two lightweight title holders. Tensions heightened at the weigh-ins, Harper shoving her dance partner as they posed for photos. The three-division champion had felt overlooked by Dubois, who claimed that Harper had not achieved anything in boxing.
Inside the ring, Dubois showed far more respect. Both fighters were standoffish in a cagey opening round, the duo gauging each other’s range and gameplan.
An animated Shane McGuigan dished out advice in the Dubois corner between rounds, leading to his charge throwing more jabs in the second. Harper was by no means a passenger in the opening rounds, gambling on the odd hook here and there, but the older fighter was certainly more cautious than her counterpart in the first three rounds of the contest.
While still selective with their shots, both fighters showed more ambition in the fourth stanza. Dubois adopted a stooping approach with her hooks, finding success by stepping out before flying back in to harass Harper. Into the fifth, Harper maintained constant head movement that negated Dubois’s crosses and hooks, but the 29-year-old threw little of note in terms of return fire.
But Harper could not evade everything Dubois was producing; towards the end of the sixth, “Sweet Caroline” was allowed to land too many straights on Harper’s temple, the WBO champion dropping against the ropes and onto the canvas. Dubois roared in the face of Harper as she returned to her feet, further highlighting the dislike between the pair.
Dubois continued to goad her rival at the start of the seventh, leading to a second talking to from referee Victor Loughlin. By now Dubois knew she had the measure of Harper, throwing away caution as she stalked Harper from one set of the ropes to another. Harper’s face was starting to show wear from Dubois’ work, blood pouring from her brow and down her eyes.
Now knowing she needed a stoppage in the final round, Harper finally opened up. A nice combination started from a body shot before Harper released left hook after left hook, leaving Dubois slightly startled. The slow start was fully consigned to the history books as the final minute descended into a slugfest; Harper looking for a winner, Dubois hunting for a statement stoppage.
Neither could land a finishing blow, sending the contest to the judges’ scorecards. Assisted by the sixth-round knockdown, Dubois claimed both belts with a wide unanimous decision.
Attention now turns to the remaining two belts at 135lb, split between IBF champion Elif Nur Turhan and WBA title holder Stephanie Han.
When asked if she planned to sit down with Most Valuable Promotion’s (MVP) co-founders Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian soon, Dubois replied: “One hundred per cent – that’s the plan. Only big fights from here on out. Women’s boxing has always been on the backburner of boxing, and today, we put it on the forefront, so thank you to everyone who turned up, everyone who fought on the card.”
Dubois’s ascent to headliner status marked MVP’s debut in the UK, with the promoters pledging two shows a year on these shores. MVP applied the same formula at the Olympia they have found works stateside: stacking cards full of woman’s world-title fights.
For example, highly-rated prospect Emma Dolan was handed the opportunity to make the step up from British level to challenge Irma Garcia for the IBF super flyweight strap. But, despite being favourite for the fight, the jump proved too much for the Briton – knocked down twice in the second round and once more in the third, by which point her corner had seen enough, the towel was chucked in.
Chantelle Cameron was another star turn, the former undisputed super-lightweight champion taking a wide unanimous decision over Austrian Michaela Kotaskova for the vacant WBO super welterweight strap.
But the highlight of the undercard might have been Ellie Scotney’s win, as she became Britain’s youngest undisputed champion in the four-belt era following a gruelling performance against Mayelli Flores.
Ultimately Scotney’s precision and shot-selection was valued by the judges over Flores’s consistent volume of punches. Catford-raised Scotney had set the tone inside the Olympia, heightening the atmosphere for the main event.
