It cost Alycia Baumgardner one of her four world title belts, but she was finally able to compete in a bout scheduled for 12 three-minute rounds.
Baumgardner’s right hand could scarcely miss as she outfought Quebecois contender Leila Beaudoin in a unanimous decision win on Friday at Kaseya Center in Miami.
The scores were 117-110 on two cards and 118-109 on the third, all for Baumgardner, 17-1 (7 KOs), who retained the IBF, WBO and WBA junior lightweight titles. Baumgardner had been stripped by the WBC prior to the fight because of her decision to fight in a longer bout than is allowed for women by the WBC.
Beaudoin, 13-2 (2 KOs), of Levis Quebec, Canada, lost for the first time since 2023.
The fight, which aired on Netflix, was the co-main event for the card headlined by Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua.
After fighting for 36 minutes instead of the standard 20-minute duration of a women’s title fight, Baumgardner was feeling elated about her abilities.
“We did 12 fucking rounds,” said Baumgardner, 31, of Detroit. “Women are doing the damn thing, so I’m just happy that I could go the distance, show my skill. I can box, I can punch, I can put somebody down, and I’m just happy to be here in the moment.”
After a tentative first couple rounds, Baumgardner picked up the pace in the third round, swelling Beaudoin’s left eye with overhand rights over her opponent’s lazy left jab. Beaudoin began to recoil from the right hands, a sign that the power was giving her issues. Beaudoin’s body language began to betray her discouragement in the fourth round as she bit on each of Baumgardner’s feints while her offense disappeared.
With the fight slipping away, Beaudoin altered her attack in the fifth, getting closer to Baumgardner and trying to make it more physical, smothering Baumgardner’s offense. That approach made it an uglier stanza, but Baumgardner still managed to shake Beaudoin with a hook at the end of the round.
Baumgardner turned her attack to the midsection in the sixth, digging with body shots that took away some of the remaining sting from Beaudoin’s attack.
With both of her eyes swelling rapidly, Beaudoin was dropped for the first time by a counter right from Baumgardner at the last second of the seventh round. Baumgardner came out for the eighth looking for a stoppage. Beaudoin, though appearing defeated in the corner, fought on bravely, landing the occasional right hand here and there.
Still, Baumgardner never stopped pushing for the knockout, landing a clean 1-2 combination in the 11th. Beaudoin answered back moments later, having her best success in the fight with a pair of counter right hands, which she followed up with a few more shots to the body. With the finish line in sight, both fighters emptied the gas tank, brawling to the final bell.
Afterwards, Baumgardner hinted at a potential showdown with Caroline Dubois, the undefeated WBC lightweight titleholder who impressed earlier in the night in a one-sided decision over Camilla Panatta.
“Caroline, if you want that smoke, you better come to three minutes and get that work,” said Baumgardner.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
