Caroline Dubois Dominates Amelia Moore, Eyes Alycia Baumgardner Showdown
Caroline Dubois barely broke stride. Amelia Moore never really stood a chance.
Under the lights at BP Pulse Arena in Birmingham, Dubois coolly banked another dominant win, retained her WBC and WBO lightweight titles and kept the path clear for the fight everyone in women’s boxing is already circling in red: Alycia Baumgardner, 2027.
Dubois in cruise control
From the opening bell, Dubois imposed herself. Not frantic, not rushed. Just a steady, suffocating control that turned a world-title defence into something that felt closer to a sparring session with consequences.
The scorecards told the story: 99-90, 99-90, 98-91. Unanimous, wide, and never in doubt.
Dubois fought like a heavy favourite who knew it. She leaned on power, on physical presence, on the authority of a champion who has seen most of the tricks already. That choice came at a cost to the spectacle: the fight went the full distance, the ending long signposted, the jeopardy minimal. But it was efficient, and it was ruthless enough.
The defining moment came in the fifth. A booming left hand sent Moore crashing to the canvas, a sudden reminder of the gap between them. Moore bounced straight back up, defiant, but from then on she looked like a fighter being manoeuvred rather than one dictating. Dubois stalked, prodded, pushed her around the ring, like a cat toying with a mouse that refused to stop running.
Moore, in just her fifth professional outing, brought heart and resistance. A two-time American national champion with a solid amateur pedigree, she showed she could absorb punishment and keep firing back. What she could not do was trouble Dubois in any sustained way.
The experience gap was glaring. Dubois has boxed 70 more professional rounds than Moore and it showed in every exchange. Despite giving away four inches in height, the champion slipped danger, shortened the distance when she wanted, and kept the American exactly where she needed her.
Fifteen fights now for Dubois as a professional. Fourteen wins. Still unbeaten. Still moving forward.
War of words, not just punches
If the fight itself felt inevitable, the real electricity crackled after the final bell.
Alycia Baumgardner had taken a front-row seat in Birmingham, calling it a “scouting mission”. She didn’t like everything she saw. From ringside, the unified super-featherweight champion accused Dubois of “tightening up” and looking “tired”.
That was all the invitation Dubois needed.
The new, MVP-polished version of the Londoner stepped up. Brash. Confrontational. Owning the stage. She fired back at Baumgardner for stepping into “my division – I am the best here,” lacing the exchange with expletives and making it clear this was no polite, future-business conversation. This is a rivalry now, a live one.
The tension has been building for a year. Both women spent Thursday in Birmingham doing separate media rounds to promote their respective upcoming fights, sniping at distance. On Saturday, they did it face to face.
Baumgardner, 32, has already said she “absolutely” wants Dubois. The road is simple, if not easy: she must first move up to lightweight and beat IBF champion Elif Nur Turhan in Texas on 8 November. If she pulls that off, a Dubois–Baumgardner showdown should top another MVP card, a flagship night for women’s boxing.
The boxing politics will sort themselves out. The needle is already there.
A champion in transition
Away from the noise, Dubois is quietly tearing up the foundations of her own career.
She has split from Shane McGuigan in London, the trainer who helped guide her to two world titles at lightweight. It was a shock call, the kind that signals a fighter who believes there is still another level to reach. Dubois has moved to Los Angeles to work with respected US trainer Manny Robles, a shift that hints at a longer-term vision: crack America, expand the brand, sharpen the tools.
Saturday night suggested the transition is still in motion. The dominance remains, the physicality is obvious, but there is room for more fluidity, more variation, more finishing instinct. That is what Robles has been hired to unlock.
The clock is already ticking toward Baumgardner. Dubois will want to be fully formed by the time that bell rings.
Harper reminds everyone she’s still here
Earlier on the undercard, Terri Harper delivered the kind of performance that resets a career narrative in under six minutes.
Harper, who dropped a decision to Dubois in April, stepped up to welterweight to face Miranda Reyes knowing this was a must-win fight if she wanted to stay relevant at the top end of the sport. Retirement had crossed her mind after losing to Sandy Ryan in 2024. Defeat here would have dragged that conversation back to the surface.
She walked to the ring in bright yellow gloves, all energy and intent. Once the bell rang, she kept it there.
Harper claimed the centre of the ring in the opening round and went straight to the body. Sharp, accurate shots thudded into Reyes’ midriff, setting a tone that the American never managed to disrupt.
Then Harper turned the screw.
At the start of the second, she raised the tempo and Reyes simply couldn’t cope. A burst of body punches softened the Houston fighter up, and a short left hook dumped her on the canvas. Reyes rose, but the momentum had already snapped. Harper swarmed again, dropped her a second time in quick succession, and the referee waved it off just 47 seconds into the round.
Her corner, kitted out in matching yellow, erupted. Harper, too, knew what she had just done.
“One of the best performances of my career, I’m very happy with that,” she said afterwards. “You can’t get rid of me this easily! I am excited for what’s next. It’s way too early [to say goodbye] – I’ve got a lot to give yet.”
It was the seventh knockout of her career, taking her record to 17 wins from 22 bouts. More importantly, it was a timely reminder that Harper still belongs in big conversations.
The road ahead
Birmingham offered two snapshots of different stages in a fighter’s journey.
Dubois, already a unified champion at lightweight, fine-tuning for legacy nights and super-fights, trading barbs with Baumgardner as much as punches with Moore. Harper, rebuilding and reasserting herself, proving that a couple of brutal setbacks do not have to define the rest of the story.
If Baumgardner does her part in Texas, Dubois will soon face the kind of test that can transform a career from impressive to era-defining.
When that night comes, will the woman who toyed with Amelia Moore be enough? Or will the version being rebuilt in Los Angeles with Manny Robles be the one that finally shows us how high her ceiling really is?
