Search
3 minutes read

Weekend Recap: Caroline Dubois Title Defense Against Jessica Camara Ends In Technical Decision Draw

Caroline Dubois (right) retains her WBC lightweight title against Jessica Camara after their WBC world lightweight title fight was stopped early by the referee in the 3rd round and ruled a technical decision draw according to the BBBofC's rules. (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

The title bout between WBC women’s lightweight champion Caroline Dubois and Canadian challenger Jessica Camara saw an unfortunate early finish as the fight was stopped early following a headclash between the two fighters in the 2nd round, resulting in their fight being ruled a technical decision draw in accordance with the British Boxing Board of Control’s rules. The two female combatants co-main evented on a Boxxer card headlined by British super middleweight contenders Callum Simpson and Steed Woodall. The show as held on Saturday, January 11th, at the Park Community Center in Sheffield, Yorkshire, based in England.

Caroline Dubois Vs. Jessica Camara

Weeks after being elevated by the WBC from interim champion to world champion, British starlet Caroline Dubois (10-0-1, 5 KO’s) was set to make her maiden title defense of her WBC lightweight (135 lbs) title against Canadian contender Jessica Camara (14-4-1, 3 KO’s). Their championship bout was scheduled for 10 rounds [over 2 minutes].

Dubois started off tremendously well and her natural southpaw stance immediately caused difficulties for Camara who was unable to avoid Duboi’s piston-like jab and found herself knocked down after a strong left hand from the British champion before the first minute had elapsed. The subsequent minute saw Dubois firmly entrench her position as a champion by endlessly pressuring Camara, though she failed to produce another knockdown.

The 2nd round would see Dubois dominate with Camara barely hanging on as Dubois stepped up her effort to put Camara out of the fight. Camara was mostly relegated towards using a high guard in defense against Dubois’ punches but this proved to be futile resistance as Dubois’ persistence and skill either allowed her to slip through plenty of punches or still have an impact, culminating in another dominant round for Dubois. Late in this round, an accidental headclash between the two fighters ensued which caused a cut on Camara’s forehead.

This cut proved to be persistently difficult to mend during the break and as the 3rd round started, the referee intervened two seconds after the bell rung to check on Camara’s cut. With blood clearly leaking out, the referee was forced to stop the fight early. As a consequence, the fight went to a technical decision draw with the judges’ scorecards having no impact on the result.

This decision is standard procedure for bouts held in the UK with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) having specified for technical decision (TD) draw to be afforded to fights that end before 4 completed rounds:

Caroline Dubois Title Defense Against Jessica Camara Ends In Technical Decision Draw image 1
BBBofC’s rules on accidental fouls.

As a result of the TD draw, Dubois retained her WBC lightweight title and a draw has been added onto her record.

While a victory for Caroline Dubois would have likely been a more fitting conclusion, the BBBofC’s rules stand unopposed and Dubois will have to take solace in retaining her titles despite the result.

Main Event:

Despite the super middleweight (168 lbs) contest between Callum Simpson (16-0, 11 KO’s) and Steed Woodall (19-3-1, 12 KO’s) being relatively less important in comparison to the co-main event between Dubois and Camara, their fight was staged as the headlining match of the card.

The bout itself turned out to be a surprisingly uneven contest as Simpson stopped Woodall in the 2nd round of their 12-round championship bout to retain his BBBofC British and Commonwealth Boxing Council 168-pound titles.

share