Caroline Dubois is an ambitious, fast-rising prospect. Already she wants to take on the biggest names possible, says promoter Ben Shalom.
On Friday June 16 at London’s York Hall, live on Sky Sports, Dubois will fight Yanina del Carmen Lescano, the Argentinian ranked at No 2 by the WBC.
Dubois, though still young and at an early stage of her own professional career, wants to force her way into the world title picture as a mandatory challenger for one of the major belts.
Although Katie Taylor lost most recently to Chantelle Cameron that was up at super-lightweight and the Irish star remains the undisputed champion at 135lbs.
BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom, who represents Dubois, thinks the Londoner will soon be in the mix at the highest level.
He believes taking the Lescano fight next demonstrates that.
“That shows where she’s going to be going,” Shalom told Sky Sports. “She’s a phenomenon.
“For me Caroline Dubois is ready for Katie Taylor this year,” the BOXXER CEO continued.
“She is ready to go. Lescano is a big fight for someone in their seventh pro fight. This is Caroline wanting to make statements and make statements early in in her career as well.”
Taylor is widely expected to rematch Cameron but it’s yet to be determined whether she will return to 135lbs to defend her four titles there.
Caroline Dubois comes firing out of the blocks in the first round as she stops Sofia Rodriguez after only 60 seconds
“I think Chantelle showed she [Taylor] is more comfortable [at lightweight]. I do expect the rematch to happen at lightweight,” Shalom said.
“It would be a great passing of the torch to possibly get Caroline Dubois in with Katie Taylor before she retires. [Dubois] is a special talent and someone that turned over so young. You look at the other fighters and what they’ve achieved in their 30s but this is someone at 22 years old that’s showing frightening potential.”
With Dubois being so young, Shalom knows she has real longevity in the sport.
“She could be a pro for 15 years. She’s got so much hunger for it, she genuinely wants to make history. She always says to me: ‘I’m the number one, I’m the number one fighter,'” Shalom said.
“She wants to win multiple world titles. She wants to be a multi-weight world champion. She’s going to do things, I believe, that haven’t been done before by a British fighter. It’s exciting because she’s 22 years old but the confidence that she has and has developed over the past 12 months and the way she’s developing physically is quite something.
“Hopefully we can build her right and build her so she can sell out arenas. The classic example is Savannah Marshall and how she built a following in the past 12, 18 months. That’s what women’s boxing needs,” he added.
Dubois dominated Feriche Mashaury over three rounds in her last fight
“Caroline has the potential and the longevity to be able to achieve that and I believe she’ll beat everyone and anyone, it’s just taking the right fights at the right time.”
Those bouts with Mikaela Mayer, Katie Taylor and perhaps even Chantelle Cameron are future targets for Dubois.
“She wants to fight Mikaela Mayer this year, she wants to fight Katie Taylor,” Shalom said.
“She wants the big names, knowing Caroline she’ll want Chantelle Cameron, she’ll want them in the next 12 months.
“I know she wants Mikaela in December. That’s what we’re going to try and do for her and hopefully we can deliver it.
“It’s amazing to see from when she was nervous on her debut in Cardiff,” he continued. “To now be 12 months later where she wants to headline shows and fight Mikaela Mayer.
“It shows she now knows how powerful she is at the weight and how dangerous she is.
“She’s going to enjoy it and she’s going to do amazing things.”
