Caroline Dubois: The Future Of The Lightweight Division?

By FightPost: MMA & Boxing News on 1st Aug 2024

At 23, Caroline Dubois is seemingly on her way to a golden future with multiple world titles in her future. Dubois has always had that look of a special talent. The almost impeccable amateur run, and after nine professional fights, the hype around her has only been enhanced.

Dubois returns to action this weekend in Barnsley. An unlikely outdoor setting that will be the stage for the latest appearance of the blue-chip prospect, if prospect is still the word for the supremely talented fighter.

The once-beaten South American Maira Moneo will be in the opposite corner on Saturday night as Dubois makes her first appearance since February. Dubois will defend her IBO world lightweight bauble, but of far more importance, both fighters will trade blows for the WBC Interim lightweight title. With a victory, Dubois will have the leverage that she will need as she enters the next stage of her career.

With Katie Taylor still holding the WBC and WBA versions of the world lightweight titles, Dubois, with that Interim title in her possession, can force an issue that, in truth, shouldn't need forcing. Taylor hasn't defended her lightweight titles since October 2022, and there appears to be little interest in ever doing so again. When Taylor rematches Amanda Serrano in November, it will have been over two years since Taylor last graced the lightweight ranks. An incredible piece of generosity from the WBC and the WBA that simply defies belief. Taylor should have been forced to defend or vacate her remaining world lightweight baubles long before now.

Dubois is chasing a fight with Taylor. Her dream fight, but the timing is probably against her. Taylor has Serrano in November, and a trilogy fight with the Puerto could then follow. There is also a potential third fight with Chantelle Cameron waiting for Taylor if she decides to run it back with the only fighter ever to have beaten her as a professional. Fights that are much bigger financially than the one with Dubois. But Dubois quite rightly is making the right noises about wanting to share a ring with Taylor, and you never know the stars might just align for her. But other fights seem far more likely for Dubois.

A win on Saturday night will likely bring her the WBC lightweight title proper in the coming months if Taylor finally has her hand forced. At the very least, she will get a fight to claim it outright.

Dubois is almost certainly on a collision course with the likes of Rhiannon Dixon and the Brazilian Beatrix Ferreira, who hold the WBO and IBF world lightweight titles between them. Holding that WBC belt will give Dubois a little more weight at the bargaining table if and when the time comes to having those serious conversations about making those unification fights at some point in 2025. Not being with Matchroom, as Dixon and Ferreira are, is certainly problematic, but not impossible in making those fights. Dubois recently committed her long-term future to Boxxer and Ben Shalom.

But before any talk of unification fights commence, Dubois has to put herself in position first. The first step on that road to glory is her fight in Barnsley against the tough Maira Moneo. The British fighter is strongly favoured to win, and it might be a case of how she does it that will carry much of the interest, but fighters have come unstuck before when looking too far ahead into the future. Dubois can't afford any kind of complacency as she approaches this crucial stage of her career. But despite her young age, Dubois doesn't appear to be a fighter who will take victory for granted. If she secures a stoppage victory, Dubois will consider that as a statement made.

If that win is forthcoming in that old football stadium in South Yorkshire, Dubois will surely be in prime position for the big fights that her ambition and talents deserve. Katie Taylor might be an incredibly hard act to follow, but it would appear it is going to be a smooth transition into the next era of lightweights. Caroline Dubois firmly believes that she will be the last one standing.