Sometimes it feels as though every female boxer on the planet is a world champion of some description. Perhaps, because there are so many titles and so few world-class fighters in the women’s game, it was inevitable that world-title fights would become commonplace and that both the fights and those involved in them would develop an inflated sense of worth. It was also inevitable that some world-title fights would be mismatches, with the champion often a level or two above the challenger and nothing really gained.
Of this we see evidence on a fairly regular basis, which could explain why world champions are now skipping through the weight divisions in pursuit of other world champions – just to be challenged, just to feel something.
This weekend alone we were floated the possibility of Claressa Shields, a 175lbs heavyweight, fighting Lauren Price, a welterweight, and Mikaela Mayer, a super-welterweight, fighting Chantelle Cameron, a super-lightweight (whose appearance at super-welterweight on Sunday was meant to be just a cameo). In both instances the fights were teased with an in-ring faceoff which demonstrated only the degree to which the fights were being forced. There was, in the case of both faceoffs, a marked difference in weight and height between the boxers and this only solidified the belief that what matters most these days are names and belts.
Another fight starting to simmer is one between Caroline Dubois, who won last weekend, and Alycia Baumgardner, who fights next weekend. Those two have been at each other’s throats for some time and, best of all, they are next-door neighbors in terms of weight. For now, Dubois is a lightweight world champion, while Baumgardner is a world champion at super-featherweight, meaning there are only five pounds between their current fighting weights. It is that element – the fairness of a fight – more than the trash-talking that makes their rivalry a compelling one. It is also that element that gives it a much better chance of actually materializing.
“By the end of this year we need to make that fight happen,” said Dubois, 13-0-1 (5 KOs), after outpointing Terri Harper in London. “It’s the biggest fight in women’s boxing. I want that fight. I want Alycia next.”
It was at that point in the post-fight press conference that Dubois was alerted to the fact Baumgardner had been tweeting during her latest win and had criticized her inability to stop Harper inside the distance. Baumgardner, of course, rose to prominence in 2021 when stopping Harper inside four rounds.
“Yeah, and she’s a drug cheat,” said Dubois, referring to Baumgardner’s positive test for the banned substance Mesterolone following her win over Christina Linardatou in July 2023. “I have never in my life failed a drug test. It wasn’t just a light, little weight-loss drug. It was a serious muscle-developing, performance-enhancing drug. You can say what you want, but look at Alycia post failing that drug test and pre failing that drug test. She was explosive, she was powerful, she was dangerous. Then what happened? She failed that drug test and hasn’t looked the same since. She can say what she wants. I have never failed a drug test in my life and I never will. I’m not a drug cheat and I don’t need performance-enhancing drugs to be confident in the ring. I stepped into that ring [tonight] 100 per cent authentically natural. She cannot say the same.”
Be that as it may, Alycia Baumgardner still has plenty to say for herself and it wasn’t long before she responded to Dubois’ callout, doing so via a video posted to social media. During this video Baumgardner made no allusion to Dubois’ PED comments, but instead reminded the Brit of her greater experience and stressed that Dubois needs her more than she needs Dubois.
“You had every opportunity to get Terri out of there and you didn’t do that,” said Baumgardner, 17-1 (7 KOs). “That was your opportunity to say, ‘Hey, Alycia, what’s up?’ That shit didn’t move me. That shit motivated me to go work out because this is who y’all are comparing me to? This is who y’all want me to fight? Please stop. Caroline is not on my level. I never ducked no smoke from nobody. She’s not the biggest fight to make next. I know who I want and I’ve been very vocal about who I want. I’ve got my fight April 17 and then I’m going to be fighting again this year and it’s not Caroline. She’s not the big fight to make.
“I could never be scared of a C-level person. This is the same girl going around asking how she can beat me. They want a name to build off of, and that’s the name they’re choosing – me. ‘We need Alycia because that’s the fight that is perfect to build off of.’ No. Go put some skin in the game and do what I did. I became undisputed at 130 [pounds]. All the belts. I had nothing handed to me. I’m no email champ. I beat the champ to be the champ. I’m telling you, I’m going to fight you, but it ain’t going to be when you want it to be. That’s the difference, baby. I’m the top dog.”
Next Saturday Baumgardner, the WBA, IBF and WBO super-featherweight champion, fights Bo Mi Re Shin, a game South Korean Dubois herself boxed and beat – by majority decision – just over 12 months ago. That, in theory, doesn’t support Baumgardner’s suggestion that she is levels above Dubois at this point in time, though it is worth remembering how hard Bo Mi Re Shin pushed Dubois last March before criticizing Baumgardner’s upcoming defence too harshly.
In fact, if there’s any criticism to be levelled at Baumgardner in the context of her rivalry with Dubois it should have more to do with how she views both herself and Dubois as champions and commodities. For as much as it’s true that she stopped Terri Harper in four rounds, and beat Mikaela Mayer – controversially – to grab all the belts, it is also true that Baumgardner’s reputation has been somewhat tainted by her positive test for Mesterolone in 2023. Not only that, Baumgardner’s recent defences, against the likes of Jennifer Miranda and Leila Beaudoin, hardly indicate she is inundated with threatening challengers and lucrative fights. If anything, Baumgardner, at 31, finds herself in the same difficult position as many world champions in women’s boxing right now. She has more belts than worthy challengers and somehow has both everything in her hands and everything still to prove.
