‘That’s a guppy’: Baumgardner swats aside Britain’s Dubois as feud escalates
Alycia Baumgardner walks to the corner during her unified junior lightweight title fight with Bo Mi Re Shin early Saturday morning in New York. Photograph: Ed Mulholland/Getty Images A dismissive Alycia Baumgardner said Britain’s Caroline Dubois still has more to prove before the American will entertain a fight between the two unified champions. That was the curt assessment from Baumgardner early Saturday morning after she retained her WBA, WBO and IBF junior lightweight world titles with a controlled, at times punishing display across 10 three-minute rounds against Bo Mi Re Shin in a main event that started well past midnight at Madison Square Garden.
“Like I said, I’m a piranha,” Baumgardner said. “That’s a guppy. Get her out of here.
” Related: Baumgardner shines after New Zealand’s Daniels seizes unified crown in jarring upset Dubois, the 25-year-old sister of British heavyweight contender Daniel Dubois , has exchanged barbs with Baumgardner in the weeks since defeating Terri Harper to consolidate the WBC and WBO titles at 130lb on Easter Sunday at Kensington Oval – a showing which Baumgardner shrugged off as as “a C-level performance”. “The fight I’m interested in is Alycia Baumgardner,” Dubois said after outpointing Harper over 10 two-minute rounds. “That’s the fight I want by the end of the year.
There’s no need to waste time. The best versus the best. ” Both Baumgardner and Dubois are signed to Most Valuable Promotions, the five-year-old outfit co-founded by boxer-influencer Jake Paul, which last month launched a bespoke women’s platform, MVPW, alongside a three-year media rights deal with ESPN aimed at giving female fighters a regular, high-visibility platform on linear television.
Dubois headlined the inaugural MVPW event in London, while Baumgardner topped the second card in New York. Each has benefitted from increased exposure under the MVP banner, not least coveted spots on the televised undercard of Paul’s fight with Anthony Joshua in December at Miami’s Kaseya Center, which attracted 33m viewers globally. “I believe she’s already spoken to [MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian] and said: ‘I don’t want that fight,’” Dubois said.