Caroline Dubois wins brawl with Bo Mi Re Shin to retain WBC lightweight title

Dubois stayed unbeaten, securing a majority-decision win in London

Caroline Dubois retained her WBC lightweight title with a decision win over Bo Mi Re Shin on Friday, but the champion was forced to work hard for her victory at the Royal Albert Hall.

After 10 two-minute rounds, Dubois was declared a majority-decision winner over Shin, as the scorecards read 95-95, 98-93, 98-92. Dubois was dragged into a brawl in the final rounds, with some fans in the iconic London venue surely feeling that the scorecards would be even closer.

Dubois, 24, looked to make an impression from the very first round, at one point trapping Shin against the ropes and landing a slew of crosses. The Briton was also happy to let her hands go with combinations to the body while crouching in the pocket, as Shin failed to punish the southpaw for standing in front of her.

Shin, 30, did increase her activity as the rounds went by, but Dubois’s speed and power advantages were clear in the early frames, and she staggered the Korean badly at the end of round four.

Shin showed determination, however, recovering and stalking Dubois around the ring in the latter half of the fight, to the detriment of the champion’s accuracy and effectiveness. Dubois was largely able to stay defensively responsible, though, making Shin miss with some wilder efforts.

That was until a captivating final round, in which the boxers brawled from the first bell to the last, seemingly landing at will and bringing the Royal Albert Hall crowd onto their feet. Ultimately, Dubois was victorious and able to maintain her unbeaten record.

Caroline Dubois (right) in action against Bo Mi Re Shin at the Royal Albert Hall (Zac Goodwin/PA Wire)

The fight took place immediately before the main event of the all-women’s card, a welterweight-title unification bout between Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price. In that contest, Price emerged a clear decision winner.

Before Dubois vs Shin, Price’s Partner Karriss Artingstall outpointed Raven Chapman, becoming the first-ever British champion in the women’s featherweight division.

The unbeaten Artingstall held the centre of the ring in the early phases, and she dropped Chapman as early as the second round, sitting her down with a perfectly-timed southpaw cross. Chapman beat the count with seconds left in the round and did well to compose herself, before producing solid work in round three – especially to the body, with hooks and uppercuts at close range.

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She continued to try to close the distance as the fight wore on, while Artingstall aimed to keep her opponent at bay with jabs and single, sniping crosses. In the end, Artingstall’s tidy boxing secured her a unanimous-decision victory, with the scorecards reading 97-92, 98-91, 96-93 in her favour.

Karriss Artingstall (left) dropped Raven Chapman en route to victory (Action Images via Reuters)

Earlier in the night, Jasmina Zapotoczna took the European flyweight title from Chloe Watson, handing the Merseyside boxer her first professional loss in a contentious decision.

Watson, with British icon Ricky Hatton in her corner, fought on the front foot and favoured long, straight shots – often thrown in twos and threes – as well as a fine rear uppercut. She did, however, walk onto barrages of punches at times, with Zapotoczna proving stubborn despite going backwards for much of the bout.

Ultimately, Zapotoczna – a former sparring partner of Watson – won 96-95 on two scorecards, with the other reading 97-93 for Watson.

In the first fight of the night, Francesca Hennessy eased to a decision win against Gemma Ruegg, emerging an 80-72 victor after eight rounds at super-bantamweight. A slick Hennessy, 20, fought well behind her jab and often curled that shot into an effective hook, while employing superior footwork to Ruegg – twice Hennessy's age, at 40.

The shutout decision, scored by the referee, kept Hennessy unbeaten as she moved to 6-0.