Dina Thorslund caps 'emotional journey,' sweeping unified title from Cherneka Johnson

Dina Thorslund never felt like she stopped being a champion. She only stopped being a unified titlist so she could attempt to become a mother again.

Saturday night at Caribe Royale Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida, she proved her point, sweeping the scorecards 100-90 on all three scorecards to replace Australia’s Cherneka Johnson as undisputed women’s bantamweight champion.

“This has been such an emotional journey for me,” Thorslund said after suffering a miscarriage last year. 

Thorslund, 25-0 (9 KOs), showed no reluctance in bringing the fight to Johnson, 19-3 (8 KOs), in the early rounds. By remaining active and sharp, Johnson was left lagging behind the volume as the two-minute rounds whisked by.

Thorslund’s effective right brought Johnson’s corner to urge, “You’ve gotta throw,” after the third round.

Johnson rallied and marked Thorslund under the right eye during the fourth round.

Denmark’s Thorslund remained formidable in the fifth, showing no retreat and underlining her point that the only reason she was no longer champion after reigning as an undisputed titlist in 2024 is because she stepped away for her pregnancy.

Johnson pressed to match Thorslund’s activity in the eighth, but Thorslund’s wide advantage in power punches and overall punches was wide as Johnson began bleeding from the nose in the ninth from a Thorslund right uppercut.

Holding her older son after the gritty victory, Thorslund admitted afterward that she was tough to be around this camp, but she said the fierce focus achieved its result.

In the co-main event, Canada’s Tamm Thibeault dominated unified middleweight champion Desley Robinson of Australia to take her WBO and IBF belts by three scores of 100-90.

Thibeault, a 2022 amateur world champion and two-time Olympian, made her pro debut at Caribe Royale in December 2024, but still entered as the betting favorite in only her fifth pro bout against the 38-year-old Robinson.

The 6-foot southpaw Thibeault set up a hurtful onslaught of punches with a left hand in the first round, battering Robinson and leaving her to endure a brutal greeting from the decade-younger challenger.

Thibeault’s reach advantage was imposing, making Robinson’s rally attempt even more complex.

Robinson, 12-4, endured a head-turning left in the third and Thibeault again sent thundering head shots in the fourth to widen her lead.

In the fifth, Thibeault, 5-0, ruptured the interior of Robinson’s nose with consecutive lefts that created a nasty bleed that nearly dropped the outgoing champion.

Thibeault suffered her own vicious nose bleed from a Robinson head clash in the seventh, causing a delay as ESPN’s Crystina Poncher reflected the severity of the spewing blood by remarking, “We don’t have any smocks here…”

Thibeault’s reach permitted her to control the distance, and clinch the outcome, landing 117 total punches to Robinson’s 37.

“I’m not much of a talker, but I do the work, and it showed tonight,” Thibeault said. “Consistency, perseverance – that’s what it takes.” 

Former IBF bantamweight champion Shurreta Metcalf, 15-6-1, returned from her July 2025 title loss to Johnson and suffered a consecutive setback to another who lost a December 2025 unified title match to Johnson, Canada’s Amanda Galle.

Galle, 13-1-1, won by scores of 78-74, 80-72, 80-72 in a super-flyweight bout.

The ESPN portion of the card opened with Puerto Rico bantamweight Krystal Rosado, 10-1, cruising to a clean sweep of the scorecards, defeating Mexico’s Alonda Hernandez, 11-3, by three 80-72 scores.

The card also featured promising Cuban heavyweight Dainier Pero, 14-0 (11 KOs), defeating Aleem Whitfield, 10-2, by third-round TKO.