Caroline Dubois has spent much of 2026 telling anybody willing to listen that she wants Alycia Baumgardner, but something about that conversation has changed. Earlier in the year, Dubois seemed perfectly willing to interrupt her pursuit of undisputed status and fight Baumgardner simply because she believed it was the biggest fight available to her. Now that Baumgardner has actually moved toward lightweight and will challenge IBF champion Elif Nur Turhan on November 8, Dubois sees an opportunity to accomplish both goals at the same time.

Instead of rushing directly into the rivalry, Dubois has outlined a route that could make their eventual meeting considerably more meaningful. She currently holds The Ring, WBC and WBO lightweight championships and wants to pursue WBA champion Stephanie Han next. If Dubois wins that fight and Baumgardner defeats Turhan for the IBF championship, Dubois-Baumgardner would no longer be merely an attractive grudge match between two prominent women champions. It could become a fight for the undisputed lightweight championship.

That’s smart matchmaking, but it’s also a gamble. Every additional fight creates another opportunity for something to go wrong. Dubois could lose to Han. Baumgardner could lose to Turhan. Injuries, mandatory obligations or boxing politics could interfere before the two women ever reach each other. Still, Dubois appears willing to accept that risk because she believes putting every championship on the table would transform an already compelling rivalry into what she calls the biggest fight in women’s boxing.

Considering how quickly the hostility between these two has developed, she may have a point.

Dubois and Baumgardner Don’t Need to Manufacture This Rivalry

The tension between Dubois and Baumgardner has been building throughout the year, but it became impossible to ignore after Dubois defeated Amelia Moore in Birmingham in August. Baumgardner was ringside, criticized Dubois’ performance afterward, and the two ended up exchanging words in a confrontation that immediately created more interest in the matchup. Dubois had retained her WBC and WBO championships through a dominant unanimous decision, yet Baumgardner dismissed the performance as lackluster and questioned Dubois’ conditioning. Dubois responded by reminding Baumgardner that she was the one moving into Dubois’ division and insisted she would beat her if Baumgardner successfully got through Turhan.

What makes the rivalry work is that neither woman seems particularly impressed by the other’s accomplishments. Baumgardner has repeatedly positioned herself as the more established fighter, pointing toward her experience as an undisputed champion at 130 pounds and arguing that Dubois hadn’t yet reached her level. Earlier this year, she said fights with Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano and Mikaela Mayer were higher priorities because she viewed them as bigger opportunities. Dubois responded from the opposite perspective, essentially arguing that Baumgardner’s reputation wouldn’t matter once she entered the lightweight division.

Now Baumgardner is doing exactly that.

Her November 8 challenge against Turhan changes the rivalry because Baumgardner is no longer standing at 130 pounds telling Dubois to accomplish more before calling her name. She’s moving five pounds north and attempting to take a championship in the division Dubois currently leads. If she succeeds, the argument becomes much more difficult for either fighter to avoid because both women would possess meaningful pieces of the same championship puzzle.

Stephanie Han Is the Piece Dubois Wants Before Baumgardner

Dubois’ current plan is straightforward. She wants Stephanie Han’s WBA championship before fighting the Baumgardner-Turhan winner. If everything falls into place, that would allow the eventual matchup to crown an undisputed lightweight champion rather than simply unify part of the division.

That approach represents a noticeable evolution from what Dubois was saying earlier this year. After defeating Terri Harper in April to add the WBO championship to her WBC belt, Dubois openly said she would be willing to put further unification on hold to make the Baumgardner fight immediately. At that point, the rivalry itself was important enough that Dubois didn’t believe she needed every championship attached to it.

The landscape has changed because Baumgardner’s decision to fight Turhan potentially solves part of the undisputed puzzle for Dubois. Instead of Dubois needing separate fights against both Turhan and Baumgardner, the winner of their November matchup could emerge holding the IBF championship while also carrying considerably more momentum into a future showdown. Dubois can spend that time pursuing Han. If both sides succeed, one fight could settle everything.

There’s logic to that plan beyond collecting belts. Women’s boxing still fights for attention in a crowded sports marketplace, and attaching undisputed status to a rivalry that already has personality gives promoters something much easier to sell. The championship stakes explain why the fight matters to serious boxing fans, while the genuine tension between the fighters gives casual viewers a reason to care about the people involved.

That combination is usually where big fights are created.

Baumgardner Still Has the More Dangerous Immediate Assignment

As much as Dubois wants Baumgardner, she can’t assume that’s the woman who will emerge from November 8 with the IBF championship. Turhan is undefeated at 14-0 with eight knockouts and won the title by stopping previously unbeaten Olympic gold medalist Beatriz Ferreira in five rounds. Dubois herself has called Turhan dangerous, even though she currently predicts Baumgardner’s boxing ability should make the fight relatively straightforward.

That prediction puts some additional pressure on Baumgardner. Dubois isn’t merely saying she expects her rival to win; she’s suggesting Baumgardner should be technically superior enough to make the assignment look easy. If Baumgardner struggles badly or loses, Dubois gets to say that the fighter who spent months insisting she wasn’t on her level couldn’t even complete the first step toward reaching her.

Turhan obviously has a very different incentive. She can derail one of women’s boxing’s most heavily discussed future fights while turning herself into the woman everybody at lightweight has to deal with. A victory over Ferreira established her as a legitimate champion. A victory over Baumgardner would give her a recognizable name on the résumé and immediately increase the value of a unification fight with Dubois.

That’s why the road to Dubois-Baumgardner shouldn’t be treated as though the destination is guaranteed. Turhan and Han aren’t supporting characters whose job is to deliver championships to the two stars. They’re champions with their own careers and every incentive to destroy the plan.

That uncertainty actually makes the story better.

Dubois Is Trying to Build the Fight Instead of Simply Waiting for It

One of the more encouraging things about Dubois’ approach is that she isn’t proposing to sit around until Baumgardner becomes available. She has repeatedly emphasized that she wants to remain active, and her plan for Han gives her a meaningful objective while Baumgardner handles Turhan. Earlier this summer, Dubois said she hated the idea of fighting only once or twice per year and wanted the major lightweight fights to keep moving.

That matters because boxing has ruined plenty of excellent matchups by spending too much time protecting them. Once promoters identify a future superfight, there can be a temptation to give both fighters low-risk assignments while waiting for the perfect financial moment. Sometimes that works. Sometimes somebody gets injured, changes divisions, loses interest or simply gets older while everybody waits for the event to become bigger.

Dubois is proposing the opposite approach. Let both women keep taking meaningful fights, allow the championships to consolidate naturally, and if they continue winning, the rivalry becomes more valuable because of what they accomplished while moving toward each other.

There is obviously risk in that strategy, but risk is part of why the eventual fight would matter.

If Dubois beats Han and Baumgardner beats Turhan, neither woman arrives at the undisputed fight because a promoter protected her route. They arrive because both defeated another champion to get there.

Baumgardner Would Be Fighting for Something Bigger Than Another Belt

For Baumgardner, the potential payoff is enormous. She has already experienced undisputed status at super featherweight, so becoming IBF lightweight champion would not merely add another belt to a résumé already filled with championships. It would position her one major victory away from becoming undisputed in a second division if Dubois successfully collects the WBA championship first.

That would give their eventual fight an obvious legacy component. Dubois would be attempting to become undisputed for the first time while still in her mid-twenties. Baumgardner would be trying to repeat an accomplishment she already achieved at 130 pounds, except this time against a younger champion who has spent much of the year questioning whether Baumgardner is really as good as her reputation suggests.

The rivalry would therefore become about more than personality. Dubois could argue that she’s the future of the division and that Baumgardner’s previous accomplishments don’t determine what happens at lightweight. Baumgardner could argue that Dubois has never beaten anybody with her combination of experience, championship pedigree and confidence.

Then the belts settle the rest.

That’s a much stronger foundation for a major women’s boxing event than manufacturing hostility at a press conference two months before the fight.

Women’s Boxing Needs More Rivalries That Lead Somewhere

The potential Dubois-Baumgardner fight also arrives at an important moment for women’s boxing. Katie Taylor has retired, Amanda Serrano is approaching the later stages of her career, and the sport is looking for the next group of fighters capable of producing events that matter beyond individual championship defenses.

Dubois and Baumgardner have the ingredients to become part of that next generation of major fights because their rivalry contains both sporting and promotional value. Dubois is young, ambitious and increasingly confident about saying exactly what she thinks. Baumgardner already understands how to sell herself, has been undisputed and doesn’t appear remotely interested in treating Dubois like the next inevitable star.

Most importantly, they operate close enough in weight that the rivalry can actually happen.

That sounds obvious, but boxing frequently spends years promoting hypothetical fights between people separated by divisions, promoters or unrealistic financial expectations. Here, Baumgardner is literally moving into Dubois’ division and fighting for one of the championships Dubois needs.

The sport shouldn’t overcomplicate this.

Let November 8 happen. Let Dubois pursue Han. If both women win, make the fight.

REAL TALK

There is something refreshing about a rivalry becoming bigger because both fighters are being asked to accomplish more rather than simply talk more.

Dubois could spend the next several months insulting Baumgardner on social media and probably generate plenty of attention. Baumgardner could respond, interviews could become increasingly hostile, and promoters could manufacture enough clips to convince people they hate each other.

None of that would add as much value as each woman beating another world champion.

That’s the difference between promoting a fight and building one. Promotion tells people why they should care. Building the fight creates accomplishments that make the answer obvious.

Dubois appears to understand that. Earlier in the year, she was willing to fight Baumgardner without every championship because the rivalry itself was attractive enough. Now circumstances have created the possibility of something better, and she’s willing to take another significant fight against Han to make it happen.

Baumgardner is doing her part by moving up and facing Turhan, which is hardly a guaranteed victory. If both women survive those assignments, the insults between them suddenly carry more weight because there will be nowhere else for either champion to go without everybody asking the same question.

When are you fighting each other?

That’s where boxing is at its best. The championship structure, personal rivalry and competitive stakes all begin pointing toward the same fight instead of pulling fighters in different directions.

Dubois says she wants undisputed.

Baumgardner says she’s the top dog.

If they both win their next championship fights, there should be a very simple way to determine who is right.

Put every lightweight belt in the middle of the ring and let them settle it.

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

If Caroline Dubois beats Stephanie Han and Alycia Baumgardner defeats Elif Nur Turhan, would Dubois-Baumgardner for undisputed be the biggest fight available in women’s boxing in 2027?

And who has the more dangerous road to get there: Dubois against Han, or Baumgardner moving up to face the undefeated and heavy-handed Turhan?