Caroline Dubois Targets Undisputed Champion Status
Caroline Dubois can already see the road laid out in front of her. It ends with all four lightweight belts on the table and Alycia Baumgardner standing in the opposite corner.
She just refuses to wait around for it.
The unified WBC and WBO 135lb champion is hunting undisputed status and has made it clear she expects to meet the winner of Alycia Baumgardner vs Elif Nur Turhan for the IBF lightweight title, which takes place in the early hours of Monday November 9, live on Sky Sports. But Dubois has no interest in treading water while that plays out.
Her plan is simple: grab another belt first.
Dubois eyes Han before Baumgardner
With Baumgardner tied up against IBF champion Turhan, Dubois has turned her attention to Stephanie Han, the WBA title-holder, as the next piece of the puzzle.
"I want to become undisputed and I want to be involved in relevant fights. To unify the division is my dream right now," Dubois told Sky Sports. "The only other champion [available] is Han and we'll just have to see if I can get it in before the end of the year. If not we'll have to go early next year."
She is not talking about a distant ambition. She is talking about a timetable.
"Hopefully we'll be unified world champion by the end of this year or early next. One belt away from becoming undisputed."
That urgency comes from momentum she has no intention of surrendering. Last month in Birmingham, Dubois turned back the challenge of Amelia Moore to retain her WBC and WBO titles, then walked straight from the ring into a verbal firefight with Baumgardner.
“She’s threatened, she’s jealous”
If there was any doubt about how Dubois views that rivalry, she removed it with the kind of bluntness that leaves no room for misinterpretation.
"She's most definitely intimidated by me. She's frightened of what I bring to the table," Dubois said. "When she looks at me I know that she sees a younger, better, stronger, more talented, more everything better than her. Everything I do is just better than her. I feel like she's threatened by that."
She did not stop there.
"Everything that she has had to work so hard to get I've had it and I've achieved it in such quick succession. She's threatened, she's jealous. She's feeling a lot of emotions and all I can say is I hope she can focus herself, get that win [over Turhan] and we can find out who's the best.
"I hope she wins the fight. I'm going to be real upset if she doesn't win because I need to show her something."
The message is clear: Dubois wants Baumgardner, not just the belt she’s chasing. But she respects the danger in front of the American.
"Elif Turhan, the champion, versus Alycia Baumgardner, the contender, is going to be an awesome fight. I want the winner. I've made it very clear. I feel like I have been very vocal about the fact that I want to become undisputed."
A path she can finally see
For years, the women’s lightweight division has been defined by scattered belts and missed timings. Now, for Dubois, the route has finally sharpened into focus.
"The path has revealed itself to me. The path has become clear now... So close, but so far."
One more belt from Stephanie Han. One more showdown with the winner of Baumgardner vs Turhan.
Undisputed isn’t a slogan for Dubois anymore. It’s a deadline.
