Caroline Dubois overcomes Terri Harper in bloody war as she continues quest to become boxing’s Ronda Rousey

Caroline Dubois made headway in her plan to be boxing’s Ronda Rousey with a win at London’s Olympia on Easter Sunday.

The 25-year-old, who pretended to be a boy to start her boxing career, defeated three-weight world champion Terri Harper to become the unified WBC and WBO lightweight queen.

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Two judges ruled the fight 98-91 in Dubois’ favour, while a third scored it 97-92 to hand the Londoner a unanimous decision win.

Dubois’ victory capped off an historic night for women’s boxing in the UK, with the fight coming in the main event of Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions’ (MVP) first show on British soil.

Through her win, ‘Sweet Caroline’ continues her quest to replicate Rousey’s journey to superstardom when the American became the UFC’s first-ever women’s champion and changed the sport of MMA for females forever.

Dubois cited Rousey as her biggest inspiration when speaking to talkSPORT.com in the build-up to her all-British clash against Harper.

And she has the full confidence to believe she can take over the sport in the same manner as ‘Rowdy’.

Her victory silenced any doubts about whether she could create ‘Rousey-like’ moments in her own lane, as she busted open Harper from the eighth round, utilising her clear speed advantage to see out a convincing win.

The Londoner has already suggested that women’s boxing needs a fresh face, with names like Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, and Claressa Shields all at the back end of their respective illustrious careers.

Dubois vs Harper – what happened?

It was largely actionless in the opening exchanges as the two female stars sized one another up.

Proceedings remained tense in round two, as Dubois landed a big left on Harper, who absorbed it with a smile.

Dubois, who was showing a remarkable display of speed, controlled the middle of the ring as time ticked on, but Harper was finding success with her right hand on the outside.

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‘Sweet Caroline’ started to pick things up in the sixth just before the biggest moment of the fight.

Having pinned her Yorkshire opponent up against the ropes, Dubois unloaded a heavy left hand that sent Harper straight to the canvas.

Dubois jumped up and let out a roar just before Harper beat the standing count to eight, and the bell sounded.

In round seven, Dubois landed two more huge left hands that left Harper on wobbly legs.

Dubois was too quick as she found the target with another left, forcing Harper, who was boasting signs of bruising, to back off.

Harper then began leaking blood heavily, seemingly from a clash of heads, in round eight as Dubois stumbled her with a right and continued to punish her with straight lefts.

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Dubois kept making Harper miss in the latter stages of the fight, catching her opponent with a left square on the jaw.

Harper, to her credit, was giving it her absolute all and showing an incredible engine to keep on responding to Dubois’ onslaught.

The 29-year-old connected well to the body at times, but was wobbled in the clinch with moments to go.

In the last two minutes, Harper came hell for high water in an attempt to get a late stoppage.

There was leather flying left, right and centre, but it was too late for the older fighter, and Dubois was rightfully awarded the decision win.

Dubois just needs ‘the finishes’ to replicate Rousey

MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian was the UFC’s CFO when Rousey began her journey to MMA’s summit, and he witnessed first hand her ‘ability to rise in terms of popularity and dominance.’

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Bidarian was asked by talkSPORT.com ahead of Dubois vs Harper about what the former needs to get there herself.

“She’s got the personality, she’s got the looks, she’s got the style,” Bidarian explained.

“It’s does she have the finishes, right? Can she get the knockouts on a consistent basis?

“Because at the end of the day, what made Ronda become that meteoric rise of stardom was she was just crushing her opponents in devastating fashion, over and over and over again until she met her match. 

“And so you really need to be able to do that to differentiate yourself from the pack.”

Dubois certainly differentiated herself from the pack in London on Sunday.

She will now have her eyes on a clash with unified super featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner.

Boxing schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s  boxing schedule.