There is a real buzz and sense of momentum surrounding Caroline Dubois.
The 23-year-old southpaw from London has already made a lot of believers out of her potential, racing to 8-0 with five stoppage wins.
Sister of heavyweight contender Daniel, the Shane McGuigan prodigy is starting to feel the hope and expectation of others ahead of her fight on Saturday with Miranda Reyes.
“Definitely, I feel the potential and the momentum is building and I feel like I’ve created a big impact since turning pro and that’s what everyone wants to do,” said the confident youngster. “You turn pro, everyone wants to be noticed, you want people taking note of you and I feel like they have.”
The momentum is not just based on Dubois and her bright prospects, but on what is going on at the McGuigan Gym. The old saying success breeds success can be fact in boxing when stables hit form at the same time.
“Yes, the whole gym is doing well,” Caroline added. “Adam [Azim, who boxes on the same bill] is doing amazing, Chris [Billam-Smith] is a world [cruiserweight] champion, Ellie [Scotney] is a world champion, [light-heavyweight contender] Craig [Richards] has just come over and he’s really good and he’s only going to get better.”
McGuigan has said for some time Dubois is ready for the big names. He knows the business, so understands the likes of Katie Taylor and Mikaela Mayer won’t have eyes for a young, dangerous prospect, and before any of that, Dubois will have to get by 22-year-old American Reyes this weekend in Wembley.
“I haven’t seen much footage of her,” admitted the Boxxer hope. “I’ve seen next to nothing. I know she’s young, she’s competitive and she’s tough. She hasn’t been beaten up, she hasn’t lost that many so she’s still going to be trying to win and really raising her game and that’s the most important thing, because when someone raises their game, it brings the best out of you. I’m really excited. It’s going to be a good night of boxing.”
And it is one Dubois hopes will help take her where she wants to go in her career. The former Olympian is boxing and talking with belief, and she believes she is ready for the big names now.
“I think it’s going to happen sooner rather than later,” she said. “I think I’m going to be involved in big fights, and I’m excited for that. I keep catching myself to think about how quickly things have moved. I turned pro two years ago and now I’m getting mentioned in big fights, dangerous fights, exciting fights, and it’s very quick but I can’t complain.”
While Dubois has not seen much of Reyes, she does watch plenty of boxing as she learns on the way up the ladder. Yes, she enjoys watching her fellow left-handers, but she mostly likes seeing high levels of quality operators.
“I like watching a lot of southpaws, so I like Junto Nakatani, I like Terence Crawford, I like Errol Spence,” she concluded. “I also like Vergil Ortiz for his aggression. I like watching the elite, the best, like Shakur Stevenson. Those are the kind of people that catch my eye and make me pay attention.”
Dubois is hoping she catches the eye on Saturday night, but people are already paying attention.
