American boxer Alycia Baumgardner believes that Caroline Dubois needs to demonstrate her capabilities as a champion before she considers facing the unified lightweight world titleholder. Baumgardner is set to defend her unified WBA, WBO, and IBF super-featherweight world titles against Bo Mi Re Shin. Following her recent victory over Terri Harper, Dubois expressed interest in a high-profile bout against Baumgardner.
However, Baumgardner thinks Dubois should continue to build her reputation as a champion, particularly since she has mentioned her goal of becoming undisputed at 135lbs. Baumgardner feels that she has already proven herself by putting on impressive shows and becoming undisputed in her weight class. She now expects Dubois to do the same before calling her out for a fight. Meanwhile, Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promoters, suggests that Dubois should focus on unifying the lightweight division before pursuing a fight against Baumgardner.
Alternatively, Baumgardner could face Caroline Veyre, the WBC belt-holder at 130lbs, in a bid to become the undisputed champion at super-featherweight once again.