Former world champion and Sky Sports boxing expert Johnny Nelson observes the psychological battle between Caroline Dubois and Terri Harper…
The way Caroline Dubois was with Terri Harper, it’s like she loves that.
She’s talked about the amateurs – you just go in and fight. She said: ‘I love the pro game because I can do this to you.’ She loves being a bully.
She loves being an intimidator. In our sport you’ve got to have both sides of it to be able to stand out.
Caroline Dubois is a hungry fighter. I heard stories about how she was in the gym, with Adam Azim and Viddal Riley, when she used to be in the gym with those guys. Adam joked saying they used to be scared of Caroline because she’d walk in, not say anything to anybody, smash the bag, do the pads, then leave.
She’s a fighter through and through. Whatever she’s doing in her personal life I think it benefits her boxing life.
She’s not stepping back for nobody. I saw it against Terri Harper, who’s her senior. Terri showed maturity, she showed patience. She’s in great condition. She said this is my weight, 135lbs.
Terri says I’ve got an engine, I saw you in your last fight, you were struggling towards the end. You can’t do that with me.
Terri did say if I wasn’t fighting her she’d not be somebody I’d talk to – I don’t like her, she’s arrogant.
Caroline is very good at dragging Terri into her orbit and she’s doing that now. The buttons that she pressed are when she’s talking about her career, her losses, saying that she’s got no heart, saying that she’s boring, she’s irrelevant. Those are the subject matters that Terri talked about, these are personal attacks.
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Caroline Dubois and Terri Harper shared an intense face-off and traded a few more words after the launch press conference for their fight on April 5.
Some people are very good bullies, natural bullies. Caroline is a bully that can fight. So she read Terri like a hymn sheet.
In our sport, it’s one thing Brendan Ingle taught us, it’s understanding people and watching how people operate. You know when someone’s legit, when someone’s for real and when someone has got it wrong.
I see so much potential in Caroline Dubois.
Watch the Caroline Dubois vs Terri Harper bill live on Sky Sports on Sunday April 5.
