Caroline Dubois is adamant that she can fight her way through to a clash with American star Mikaela Mayer; Dubois' next opponent Yanina Lescano has high world rankings; "If I go through my next four opponents, and go through them well, I reckon the Mayer fight can happen," Dubois declared
Thursday 15 June 2023 06:40, UK
Caroline Dubois returns to action on Friday against Argentina’s highly-rated Yanina Lescano.
They fight, live on Sky Sports, at York Hall in the East End of London, Dubois' home city.
Victory would put Dubois in the frame for key fights in the lightweight division. Lescano is ranked with all four major world title sanctioning bodies. The Argentine is No 2 with the WBC, No 3 with the IBF and No 6 with both the WBO and the WBA.
That's where Dubois wants to be.
"She's got a really high ranking," the Londoner told Sky Sports. "It's going to push me ahead. It's going to push me forward.
"She's going to come out game. She's not going to want to lose. She's training for an upset. This is what she does, she wants to be in those big fights with the big names. She needs a big upset victory.
"I feel like this is the kind of fight that will push me forward in the ring in terms of experience and learning and outside of the ring in terms of my rankings and where I go from here."
Dubois wants to position herself eventually as a mandatory challenger for a world title. She believes that will lead her to a showdown with America's Mikaela Mayer.
"I've been very vocal with who and where I want to go. I've said I'm having five fights this year," Dubois noted. "I've got four more to go. I want Mikaela Mayer to be the fifth one. I've been very vocal about that. If I keep pushing forward and I keep blasting [forward] like I am. I think I'll be able to get into that position."
The 22-year-old has taken aim at Mayer, a unified world champion at super-featherweight who has recently moved up to lightweight.
Dubois explained why that's a fight she's targeting: "One of the main reasons is because she's a good boxer. She's someone who I respect.
"I watched pretty much all of her fights going pro. I said that she's doing stuff that I want to one day do and she's progressing and doing things that I want to one day do and be. So I have a lot of boxing mutual respect for her."
But she added: "She's stepping up to my division, my weight class, 135lbs."
Mayer lost her WBO and IBF super-featherweight titles to Alycia Baumgardner on the big Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall bill in October at the O2 Arena. Dubois boxed on that undercard herself.
She said of Mayer: "As a boxer she's pushed forward and helped create big fights for females and she's helped break down those barriers. So it's someone that I want to be in the ring with and take that from her. I feel like when you step in the ring with someone and you beat someone you take their position from them. If they're the number one, you become the number one. If they're whatever, you take that from them.
"Mikaela Mayer, me, going to the O2, it just made me feel, yeah, I want to be in big fights. I want to be in those fights. I want to be in those moments. I want to be in those gut-wrenching feelings. I want to have that, I want to get that energy."
Dubois feels that a win over Lescano is just what she needs to put her on course for a showdown with Mayer. Victory would position her as a contender, no longer just a prospect.
"If I beat Lescano and beat her well. I feel like that's what I need to do. I need to go in there and beat her well," Dubois said.
"I feel like if I keep going through my next four opponents, and go through them well and make it exciting, and make it something that [people say:] 'Wow this girl's got something.' I reckon it can happen. I definitely am pushing for that fight."
She believes she can create the kind of demand that will make the Mayer fight inevitable.
"I need to get in a position where the public is calling for it. It makes sense, it makes money and it's a big fight. It needs to get to that position for it to happen and it's up to me now to make it happen," Dubois said.
"At the O2 Arena, we fill that up and sell it out. It'll be massive, I know it will be. It'll be the same energy as Alycia Baumgardner. I reckon I'll go into that fight as the power-puncher and she'll go in as the 'skilful' one and it'll be skills and power and it'll be great.
"Another big show in London, England is really mashing it up in boxing right now and I want to be a part of that movement, a part of that moment.
"I know I can beat her," she warned Mayer. "I know I've got the style to beat her.
"She's definitely there for the taking and someone that I definitely see weaknesses in and someone that I want to share the ring with, out of mutual respect.
"As a fighter to be the best you have to beat the best. You're not going to call yourself the best if you've never challenged and beaten anyone who's got a good name, got a good reputation and I feel like if I want to call myself the best one day I have to start by beating people who I view and see as good solid contenders."
Dubois aims to take her next step forward against Lescano this Friday.
Frazer Clarke tops the York Hall bill against Mariusz Wach, live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm on June 16.
