Dubois vs Harper: Caroline Dubois on family rift & wanting to heal relationship with brother Daniel

To understand why Dubois felt she needed to find her voice, you must look at how she started. Long before she was a world champion, she was a nine-year-old girl pretending to be a boy named Colin.

In a world that did not always see a future for female boxers, she tucked her hair into a headguard and lived a lie for months.

“I think it was obviously a reflection of the time, but the thing I find most sad is that they actually thought I was a boy. I mean, that’s devastating,” she quips. “But at the time, I was full Mulan… enjoying it, I didn’t care.”

That “Mulan” spirit served her well. She spent years walking into gyms known only as “Daniel’s little sister,” but soon carved out her own reputation, winning Youth Olympic gold, European gold and qualifying for the Olympics at just 19.

When both siblings were climbing the professional ranks, it was hailed as a family success story. But by the time Caroline beat Maira Moneo in 2024 to become WBC ‘interim’ champion, the relationship had already soured.

Daniel was not there to see his younger sister’s crowning moment. Caroline, meanwhile, was not at Wembley Stadium when Daniel delivered his career-defining knockout of Anthony Joshua, nor was she at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when he lost his belt to Oleksandr Usyk.

For Caroline, the distance has been a necessary means of self-preservation.

“I haven’t been able to watch him fight – in person or on TV – since I moved out,” she says.

“I don’t watch him as a friend, I watch him as a sister. It is hard if you’re not there to speak to him and check in on him, go up to him afterwards and either console him or give him a slap on the back. It’s been very hard.”

BBC Sport has contacted representatives of Daniel Dubois, who did not want to speak on behalf of father Dave Dubois. He has previously said family “doesn’t always go as smoothly as you would like it to”.