Boxing Live: After trading blows in sparring, Caroline Dubois was not impressed or surprised by Mikaela Mayer and told the American that she had entered “my division.”
On Friday night, Britain’s explosive lightweight prospect defeated Yanina del Carmen Lescano on points and maintained her ambition to challenge Mayer, a former unified super-bantamweight world champion.
Dubois sparred with Mayer before she went professional and offered a critical assessment of their previous sparring encounter.
“Sparring is sparring,” replied Dubois. “She could be at the start of her camp, while I could be at the end of mine. When I stepped into the ring, I had high expectations since she was a pro who had already competed on a major platform.
“I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m going in with Mikaela Mayer, I’m still an amateur, I’m 19 years old’.
“When I got out of the ring, I thought, ‘Wow, that was nothing.’ I could have sparred with anyone. I wasn’t wowed or taken aback. Nothing stuck out to me or indicated to me, “I’m in there with a world champion, so that’s my mentality.”
Mayer has moved up a level in order to compete for more world championships after losing her belts in a contentious split decision loss to Alycia Baumgardner.
The 32-year-old made her 139lb debut in April with a tough points triumph over Lucy Wildheart, but Dubois is unfazed by a prospective clash with Mayer.
“That’s what I’m aiming for,” continued Dubois. “She’s saying all the right things; she wants to be the 135-pound world champion.
“This is my department. That’s how I see it. She stepped up from 113lb – don’t get it twisted, she lost all her belts.
“She wants to be world champion, and that’s fantastic; that’s exactly what we need. But she can’t just expect a hand down to get there – a Katie Taylor who has tumbled down and is no longer the one she used to be.
“She has to fight and earn it the right way, by stepping in there with the killer and earning it the right way.”
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