Katie Taylor has been urged to make her mind up on what division she’s going to fight in by WBC interim lightweight champion Caroline Dubois.
Taylor recently retained her undisputed light welterweight crown after beating Amanda Serrano on the undercard of Jake Paul’s victory over Mike Tyson. She’s now 2-0 against the Puerto Rican, who complained of headbutts from the Irish boxing hero.
But Taylor has neglected the 135lb division for over two years. She still holds the WBA, WBC and The Ring Magazine titles at that weight class, but she may be in jeopardy of losing the WBC strap as the council gears up to decide next month if she will be stripped of it.
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IBO lightweight champion Dubois became their interim titlist upon defeating Maira Moneo in August and is now pushing for Taylor to either fight her or relinquish. “I’m mandatory to the belt – Katie needs to either come back down and fight me or let the belt go,” she told Sky Sports.
“She hasn’t fought for the belt for over a year now. It seems apparent that she’s not going to come back down to 135lbs. So she’s just hoarding the belt, stopping me in my tracks and my future and my career, for what purpose? She’s done so well in her career.
Caroline Dubois wants to make her interim title a permanent one (
PA)
“She’s fought Amanda Serrano, I’m sure she’s going to want the trilogy, that’s going to be a big money fight. But that will be at 140lbs. So there’s no business even holding onto the belt. Just let it go and I get on with my career and she can get on with hers.”
After moving up from lightweight following her victory over Karen Carabajal in October 2022, advancing her record to 22-0, Taylor faced a setback in her initial bid for the light-welterweight titles against Chantelle Cameron in May 2023 but triumphed in a rematch six months later, also in Dublin.
A third showdown with Cameron may be imminent, while the option of another bout with Serrano looms despite Taylor’s two wins over her. But the immediate question she faces is whether to drop back down to lightweight and respond to Dubois’ call-out.
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