Shields states Baumgardner is “scared” of Dubois.
It was announced recently that former unified super-featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner would be moving up to lightweight to take on hard-hitting IBF lightweight champion Elif Nur Turhan.
This was a move that got fans talking about a potential fight with current unified lightweight champion Caroline Dubois, who is scheduled to take on Amelia Moore.
Women’s pound-for-pound force Claressa Shields has now stated that Baumgardner is avoiding Dubois, telling Sky Sports, “Honestly, when you’ve got somebody five pounds bigger than you beating down your door, barking up your tree, saying what they’ll do to you, [saying] that they’ll beat you up, they’ll knock you out, [and] they’re calling you out constantly, you would think that Alycia would go up five pounds and just fight and prove her greatness.
“I think that Baumgardner is 100 percent scared of Caroline, and she doesn’t want to risk her record now that she already has one loss on it. She doesn’t want to risk it. I believe that Caroline will win that fight.
“They asked me who I think is going to carry the torch once I’m gone, and I was like, ‘Listen, it’s going to be Caroline Dubois.’ I believe Gabriela Fundora will be a champion to be reckoned with, but right now, Caroline Dubois is right there.
“She’s calling out the biggest girls, the best girls. She’s trying to make the best fights. She’s confident. She’s loud. She’s mean. She’s getting knockouts. She’s right on time.”
Shields further stated she would be at Dubois’s next fight, saying, “I’m going to be there supporting her. If she ever needs me in camp or anything, she knows that I’ll be there. We always joke about sparring [each other]. One day, it’s going to happen.”
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