Unbeaten London lightweight Caroline Dubois will be an interested spectator on Saturday night, watching the hugely-anticipated showdown between undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor and undisputed super-lightweight champion Chantelle Cameron.
Shane McGuuigan, who trains Dubois, admits his charge is probably going to be hitting the heights after Taylor and Cameron are finished at the top but he is tipping her for stardom.
Dubois, personable but diplomatic, can’t pick a winner for Saturday’s showdown between Irish sensation Taylor and the excellent Cameron but she is invested in it.
“I’m very sorry to say but I’m going to have stay on the fence with this one,” smiled the 22-year-old. “I just feel like Katie Taylor knows how to win, she knows how to grit out those tough fights. She knows how to do just enough, throws flurries and combinations. It’s in Ireland, it’s going to be against the queen of Ireland, if it’s a close fight, even if it’s a fight that could go either way, there’s no way they’re going to give it to Chantelle Cameron. At the same time, in the same breath, I feel that Chantelle Cameron is bigger, stronger, game, fit, skilful, she has everything.”
Dubois, 6-0 (5), returns to the ring on June 16 against Yanina del Carmen Lescano at London’s York Hall but all eyes will be on Dublin on Saturday night.
Talking of Cameron, Dubois added: “I feel if she comes out all guns blazing, no respect… She cannot respect Katie Taylor, when you step in the ring say that’s your ring, these are my belts, I’m keeping these belts… You’ve got to have that dog mentality, that no one can take anything away from you. If she can do that and she can be strong then it’s a very, very, very hard fight.”
And while Dubois thinks home advantage may serve Taylor well on the scorecards, she does not question the fighting spirit of the Irish great one bit, which is why she wasn’t surprise when Cameron came in to fight Taylor after Amanda Serrano came out.
“I was and I wasn’t,” Dubois added. “I was because it’s a tough fight and it ain’t a guarantee [Taylor wins] and it isn’t someone she’s fought before and it ain’t someone who’s going to be easy, whereas I wasn’t surprised because this is Katie Taylor we are talking about. She’s known for having hard fights, she doesn’t like easy fights, she doesn’t like fights that don’t excite her. She’s said it. She likes those 50-50 fights. It’s pointless to step in the ring against someone you know you’re supposed to beat.”
