Caroline Dubois captures IBO title with win over Rodriguez

22-year-old Caroline Dubois claimed the IBO world lightweight championship in only her eighth professional fight following a ferocious 10 round war with a tough, talented opponent in Mexico’s Magali Rodriguez.

Dubois dominated the scorecards to a unanimous decision victory (98-89, 97-90, 99-88) at the historic York Hall, Bethnal Green and live on Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Main Event tonight.

Dubois started to grow into the rhythm of the fight in the third round, landing some heavy body which hurt Rodriguez, forcing her to defend her torso as well as her head and thereby inadvertently opening up more opportunities for Dubois to land in all areas.

This led to a knockdown in the 6th round, a devastating right hook to Rodriguez's jaw set up by a textbook one-two combination which allowed the hook to land perfectly.

A missile-like right hand left Rodriguez splayed out on the canvas on the edge of consciousness at the start of the 9th round, and Dubois was seconds away from a stoppage at multiple points across the round. But Rodriguez came back and fought hard across the rounds, firing off shots in bunches and landing some good shots.

Dubois was only eight years old when Rodriguez made her professional debut, with the gap in professional experience between the two being eye-watering. However, this gap between the pair’s resumés was totally reversed in reality, with Dubois growing into a world class fighter at the very top of the sport in the ring tonight.

Dubois said to Sky Sports after the fight: “She came out swinging. Even when I dropped her, she really wanted it and that was exactly what I needed. I think it was my career best performance in the ring, but there's so much more for me to give. I really wanted the knockout, as you can tell. I'm 22. What's going to happen when I'm 25, 26? I'm going to start knocking these girls spark out, I promise you."

Ben Shalom, BOXXER CEO and founder, said to Sky Sports after the fight: “What a performance from Caroline. How Rodriguez got up in the 9th round I will never know. Obviously the lightweight world titles have been held stagnant for a while now. Katie Taylor has been the star of women’s boxing, but Caroline Dubois is the new star of women’s boxing and I’m sure one of the big four sanctioning bodies will recognise that too.”