London - Caroline Dubois (9-0, 5 KO’s) spent her week answering questions about boxing politics and a potential IBF lightweight title fight with the excellent Brazilian. Beatriz Ferreira but the unbeaten 23-year-old Londoner managed to keep her mind on the task at hand and her maiden IBO title defense against Texan challenger, Miranda Reyes (7-2-1, 3 KO’s). 

The game Reyes came out aggressively, but Dubois quickly made her think twice about that tactic, firing in some hard body shots. The relatively inexperienced Reyes quickly dispensed with that idea and although it allowed her to stay safe, it did mean that Dubois was able to dictate how the fight went. 

Dubois began to run through her repertoire in the second, putting weight into her southpaw right hook and following it with a straight left. Before the fight, Reyes would have wanted to draw Dubois into a fight, but she was just a little slow to capitalize on Dubois’s aggression although she did land a decent hook after the bell.

Reyes realized that she had to push Dubois backwards and made a determined effort to get on the front foot. She put together a nice burst as the third round drew to a close, landing some nice short punches and having the first and final word in the brief exchange.

The third round had been a well fought round and Dubois chose to give herself more room in the fourth. She took small steps backwards and was able to make Reyes fall short and punish her for her mistakes. Reyes had never boxed a scheduled ten rounder before but was solid and determined. She ate a right hand from Dubois midway through the fifth as she waded forward but tried to answer with her own punches but she was getting tagged increasingly often and Dubois’s straight left was becoming a more significant weapon, one of them opening a significant cut over Reyes’ left eye. 

It began to look like Reyes well was running dry in the sixth. She struggled to mount any offence and seemed to be out of ideas on how to close the distance. Dubois began to work around her and dig that right hook into the body but just when it seemed like the fight was slipping totally out of Reyes’ grasp, she came out for the seventh with renewed determination. The Texan forced herself inside and landed her best punch of the fight. The solid right hand landed cleanly on Dubois chin but had little impact. She was just outgunned by the faster, more talented fighter. Dubois again began to look to the body and maybe realizing that Reyes was there for the long haul, she seemed to take some weight off her punches. Landing short, flashy combinations and skirting back out of range.

Reyes did land a good right hand and left hook to open the ninth round and kept trying to answer back whenever Dubois held her feet and let her hands go. She couldn’t make any impact but also never looked in any real danger of being badly hurt. The tenth round followed the pattern of the previous nine, with Reyes wanting to get close but paying a price for trying. Dubois one-two’s and right hooks to head and body working as well in the final round as they had in the opener.

The scorecards were predictably wide. All three judges scoring the fight the same way, 100-90 for Dubois who retained her title.