Caroline Dubois to be Katie Taylor's 'last dancer partner'? | 'She’s the one that holds all the cards - it's up to her'
Katie Taylor is due to have one more fight before she retires and newly unified champion Caroline Dubois wants to take on "a legend"; But WBC and WBO lightweight titlist Dubois said: "It's going to be up to her, not up to her opponents and the people calling her out. It's up to her"
Tuesday 7 April 2026 18:44, UK
Caroline Dubois wouldn’t hesitate to box Katie Taylor in the Irish superstar’s retirement fight.
But the newly unified WBC and WBO lightweight world champion acknowledges that decision is ultimately up to Taylor.
"Because it's Katie's last fight, she's the one that holds all the cards and I really do feel that way," Dubois told Sky Sports.
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"She's a champion, she'll retire a champion. It's going to be up to her, not up to her opponents and the people calling her out. It's going to be up to her.
"It'll be great. I wouldn't turn it down."
Her promoter, Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian's MVP, hopes to make that fight happen. "My dream scenario is for Caroline to be the last dance partner for Katie Taylor," Bidarian said.
Dubois though suspects it's unlikely.
She told Sky Sports News: "Katie Taylor's one of the biggest fights in women's boxing, she's a legend and she's only got one left. Who honestly would say they would turn the fight down?
"Given the opportunity I would take it, you don't have to even ask me. Give me the paper and I will sign it, I don't know how realistic that is. So I look elsewhere. I look at what is realistic."
She is looking at her other options with a unification bout against IBF champion Elif Nur Turhan appealing.
Dubois has particularly targeted American rival Alycia Baumgardner, the unified super-featherweight champion who is also promoted by MVP as well.
"The Alycia fight is a massive fight. I know she's running from that fight but it is a big fight and I know that there are going to be people around her that are not going to let her get away with it," Dubois said.
"They're not going to let her get away with calling out Claressa Shields at what, 147lbs, 154lbs? Are you're afraid to move up 5lbs?
"They're not going to let her get away with claiming to be the best. You're calling out Tiara Brown, who's the weight below you but you don't want to move up and fight a dangerous fighter yourself.
"Hopefully people hold her accountable for what she says and who she tries to portray herself to be. In the meantime of course I'm going to push on and chase the biggest fights possible.
"I want to unify again, Elif [Nur Turhan] is a great fight."
Watch Alycia Baumgardner vs Bo Mi Re Shin live on Sky Sports in the early hours of April 18
