SHANE MCGUIGAN is backing Caroline Dubois to one day become the undisputed female lightweight champion.
Katie Taylor currently holds all the belts in the 135lb weight class but will make a second attempt to wrestle all the hardware at 140lbs from Chantelle Cameron on November 25 in Dublin, six months on from the loss to Cameron in the Irish capital.
After an unbeaten seven-fight start to her own career Dubois has looked like a legitimate heir to Taylor’s throne. Five of her opponents haven’t heard the final bell which makes her one of the heaviest hitters in women’s boxing. On September 30 the 22-year-old headlines a Boxxer card at York Hall where she faces the vastly more experienced Magali Rodriguez, 22-6-4, for the IBO lightweight belt.
“It’s a big step for her,” her trainer McGuigan told Boxing News.
“This is early on in her career but she’s more than capable of winning these fights and I think she’s more than capable of winning world titles and being undisputed. I keep barking on saying how good she is. I genuinely believe she’s the face of female boxing especially in the lightweight division. She can really fight [and] she’s got a fan-friendly style. She used to be more of a boxer [but] now she’s sitting down on her punches, she’s getting knockouts.”
Rodriguez, 31, has campaigned at bantamweight, super-bantamweight and super-lightweight during a career which began in 2009. McGuigan picked out the Mexican’s last fight against 2016 Olympic Gold medallist Estelle Mossely five months ago to prove how much of a jump in class this is for Dubois.
“This girl’s just gone 10 rounds and drew with Estelle Mossely and she dropped her as well. It’s a big step up but it’s one she’s more than capable of winning. Her [second] last opponent (Yanina del Carmen Lescano) got a split decision loss to Estelle Mosley, but I actually watched the fight, I thought she won it, so it just shows you where she’s at. Maybe we can get that fight with Estelle Mossely down the line but for now it’s [about] securing some form of title and stamping her authority on the division.
“She’s number one on Boxrec but she needs to go out and get the belts now to prove it [and it] depends what Katie Taylor wants to do. If she stays at 140 or this one with Chantelle Cameron might be her last fight, you never know. She’s been an amazing servant to boxing but Caroline wants to get her hands on a lot of those belts.”
