Before YouTube influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul steps into the ring to face the former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, one of the most fearsome power punchers in the game with 25 knockouts in his 28 victories against four defeats, it will be the women’s version of the sport that takes the spotlight.
Alycia Baumgardner, the IBF, WBO, and WBA world super featherweight champion, puts her belts and her 16-1 record on the line against Canadian challenger Leila Beaudoin in a scheduled 12-round fight that should immediately precede the Joshua vs. Paul main event.
Here’s what you need to know about what promises to be a high-action co-feature highlighting one of the leading stars of women’s boxing in the current era, the Fremont, Ohio, native Baumgardner.
What is the Tale of the Tape?
In terms of their physicality, the two fighters appear evenly matched . Baumgardner weighed in on Thursday at 129.2 pounds, while Beaudoin hit the 130-pound super featherweight limit on the nose.
Both boxers are listed at 5-foot-6, though Baumgardner has the slightest of advantages in reach — 66 inches to 65 1/2 for the challenger. Beaudoin has a narrow age advantage at 29 years old, while the unified champion is 31. But both fight out of the orthodox, that is, right-handed stance.
Why Isn’t the World Boxing Council Belt on the Line?
Of the various “alphabet” sanctioning bodies that rank fighters and crown their separate champions, the World Boxing Council (WBC) title is considered by most professional boxers to be the most prestigious belt to win .
Baumgardner won the WBC super featherweight belt on Nov. 21, 2021, when she knocked out defending champ Terri Harper in the fourth round at Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.
But last September, Baumgardner voluntarily gave up her WBC belt as part of her fight for equality between men’s and women’s boxing. She relinquished the belt because the WBC prohibited women from fighting bouts of 12, three-minute rounds, the same as men’s championship bouts.
Beaudoin Presents a Dangerous Matchup For the Champ
The challenger “fights like someone who didn’t come up in boxing gyms — she came from downhill skiing and treated punching like cardio,” according to an analysis by Boxing 24/7 . “That means she’s got zero romantic respect for the pecking order. She walks in, throws hands, and forces pace because she doesn’t know she isn’t supposed to. That’s dangerous, especially against a champion who can coast when the room lets her.”
Baumgardner, whose nickname is “The Bomb,” is considered the more dangerous puncher with seven KOs, but whether she can withstand the volume punching of the Quebec fighter could determine who wins this fight.
The Champion Keeps Her Personal Life Quiet
Though she flaunts a flamboyant personality and has been described as “fashionable, charismatic, effortlessly marketable — designer fits, jewelry, immaculate hair and makeup — looking as comfortable on a red carpet as she does inside the ropes,” little is known about Baumgardner’s personal life — and she appears to like it that way.
Does she have a boyfriend? Is she married? She has resolutely kept those answers private .
When rumors began to circulate that she may not have a boyfriend but instead, a girlfriend, Baumgardner publicly denied that she has intimate relationships with women. She has also stated publicly that she is single, but “married to the game.”
Beaudoin Posts Pictures With Boyfriend
Beaudoin also rarely if ever discusses her personal life or relationship status, preferring to keep media focus on her activity in the ring. But she appears in multiple social media posts with an apparent boyfriend identified in media reports as Jean-Sébastien Valiant, a financial planner .
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