Terri Harper believes Caroline Dubois has blinked first in the psychological battle ahead of their fight on Sunday.
Harper and Dubois box to unify the WBO and WBC lightweight championships, live on Sky Sports.
The verbal sparring between the two has continually ramped up ahead of their clash at London’s Olympia. At the start of their fight week Harper pushed Dubois away during a photoshoot.
Harper suggested that left her opponent agitated.
“She panicked. She was off script. It was not what she prepared for and she didn’t know what to do,” Harper told Sky Sports.
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Tensions were high between Harper and Dubois as the pair get ever closer to their unification bout on Sunday
The Doncaster fighter said she shoved Dubois for standing in front of her as they posed for the cameras.
“She’s very predictable. I knew for a fact she was going to do that because the first time she did it at the last press conference it got a good reaction. I just knew she was going to come with that,” Harper said.
“Just a little shove to remind her that I’m not here to play games, I’m not here to make up the numbers, I’m here to get them belts off her.
“I’m very laidback, very placid, calm but when it does come to fighting I have got that switch and people probably take my kindness for weakness. It was just a nice quick little reminder that she’s in a fight on Sunday.”
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Dubois and Harper go face to face for the first time in fight week
Harper claims she has identified another weakness in Dubois’ readiness for their fight.
In her preparations for their world title unification Dubois spent some weeks sparring in America.
Harper declared: “She’s got insecurities in her camp.
“She’s got something that’s not working in her camp and she’s gone chasing it somewhere else.”
Dubois of course sees that decision to split her training across the US and the UK very differently.
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Dubois trash talks Harper in a fiery exchange at their press conference back in February
It gave her a deeper pool of sparring partners. “Great rounds, sparred some guys that were out there [too], really sharp,” Dubois told Sky Sports. “The USA style is so different.
“Combine that with the altitude training which I thought was really beneficial.
“Just a different style of training. The training out there’s so different. I was able to just pick up some things from that. The mindset, the training, the work ethic all of that, is phenomenal.
“I think as an athlete you have to keep trying to learn, keep trying to better your previous, keep trying to push on.”
Watch Caroline Dubois vs Terri Harper this Sunday live on Sky Sports from 7pm.
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