Caroline Dubois Seeks Family Reconciliation With Brother Daniel Ahead of Unification Push

The family rift shadowing Caroline Dubois' rise comes into sharp focus on Easter Sunday as the 25-year-old WBC lightweight champion steps into Kensington Olympia tonight seeking to unify her title with Terri Harper's WBO belt.

Dubois has spoken openly about her estrangement from brother Daniel, the former heavyweight world champion. The split traces back to their father Dave Dubois, a Grenada native who raised all eleven of his children as a single parent in London and who has long opposed female boxing. When Dave presented trainer Shane McGuigan, son of legendary Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, with an ultimatum to drop Caroline or lose Daniel as a client, McGuigan chose Caroline. The fallout left the siblings out of contact.

"Daniel hasn't come to any of my last four fights, and yet no one asks him that question. He's not at this fight — he won't be at the next fight," Caroline said. She has described the situation as "a messed-up situation" but says she wants to reconcile. She first learned of the public dimensions of the rift when she was repeatedly tagged in an interview Daniel gave during fight week, in which he acknowledged their father did not support female boxing.

The estrangement carries a painful irony. In 2024, Caroline and Daniel became only the second sister-brother duo in boxing history to hold world titles simultaneously, a feat first achieved just a year earlier by American siblings Gabriela and Sebastian Fundora. Gabriela Fundora is now the undisputed flyweight champion with four world titles; the Dubois siblings' shared achievement was historic even as their bond frayed.

Caroline's story is one of the more remarkable in British boxing. She began training aged nine, disguising herself as a boy named Colin to gain entry to Repton Amateur Boxing Club, where coach Bobby Beck did not allow women. Beck eventually discovered her, but her determination earned her a place at the club. What followed was an amateur career that included the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic title, the World Youth championship, four European Youth titles, and a BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2019, before she represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics. She turned professional in 2022 and carries a record of 12-0-1 with five knockouts.

She has left no doubt about her confidence heading into tonight. "I believe I'm the best 135-pounder in the division," she has said, and has publicly predicted she will stop Harper before the sixth round. Harper, 29, won the WBO lightweight title by unanimous decision over Rhiannon Dixon in May 2025 and arrives at 16-2-2 with six knockouts. At the weigh-in, Harper checked in at 134lbs 6oz to Caroline's 134lbs 2oz.

Their bout headlines MVPW 01, the UK promotional debut of Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions in partnership with ESPN, broadcasting live on Sky Sports and ESPN+. The card features eight women's bouts across ten contests, four of them world title fights. Caroline has said the path to the Harper unification was one of the main reasons she signed with the promotion.

If she wins tonight, Caroline's ambition does not stop there. She has set her sights on becoming undisputed lightweight champion before the end of 2026, with the IBF belt held by Brazil's Beatriz Ferreira and the WBA title currently vacant. Daniel Dubois, meanwhile, is separately preparing to challenge WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley in Manchester in his own pursuit of a second world title. For now, both siblings press forward, apart.