Dallas Boxer Alycia Baumgardner Chases History at Arlington's College Park Center

Dallas boxer Alycia Baumgardner is coming home to chase a second world title, moving up to 135 pounds to challenge unbeaten IBF lightweight champion Elif Nur Turhan on November 8 at College Park Center in Arlington. The bout will headline MVPW-07, a card built entirely around women's championship boxing, and it puts one of the sport's most decorated fighters in front of the fans she has been asking to see her fight for years.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Baumgardner and Turhan will meet in a 10-round fight contested under three-minute rounds, with Baumgardner stepping away from her unified WBA, WBO, and IBF super featherweight titles to try to become a two-division world champion. Baumgardner, a Dallas resident with an 18-1 record and seven knockouts, said the move represents the start of a new chapter in her career. As she put it, this is her backyard, and she wants Dallas-Fort Worth and Arlington fans packing College Park Center for the fight.

Turhan enters the bout unbeaten at 14-0 with eight knockouts, having claimed the IBF crown by stopping previously unbeaten Brazilian Olympic gold medalist Beatriz Ferreira in the fifth round in December 2025, according to Boxing News 24. She has since made two successful defenses, against Taylah Gentzen and Gabriella Tellez, building the kind of finishing power that has her expecting a fierce battle against Baumgardner. MVP co-founders Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul confirmed Turhan will defend her IBF lightweight title against Baumgardner as the promotion's marquee November matchup.

A Belt-Stacked Promotion Behind the Scenes

The fight also carries weight for Most Valuable Promotions' broader ambitions in the lightweight division. With Turhan holding the IBF title alongside WBC and WBO champion Caroline Dubois and WBA champion Stephanie Han, MVP now controls promotional access to three of the four major world titles at 135 pounds, per Yardbarker. That positions a Baumgardner win as a potential stepping stone toward a full division unification down the line.

Baumgardner's jump to lightweight follows a well-documented stand she took on equal fight terms. In September 2025, she gave up her WBC super featherweight title specifically so she could fight under 12 three-minute-round rules — the same format used in men's championship bouts — rather than the traditional two-minute rounds the WBC mandates for women, according to RDX Sports. Her most recent outing came on April 17, when she retained her unified belts with a unanimous decision over South Korea's Bo Mi Re Shin at Madison Square Garden's Infosys Theater during MVPW-02, as reported by The Guardian.

Card Built Entirely Around Women's Boxing

MVPW-07 will feature four world title bouts across a main card composed entirely of female fighters, with an undercard mixing men's and women's bouts. Skye Nicolson defends her WBC super bantamweight title against Miyo Yoshida, a 19-5 fighter with one knockout, over 10 rounds. Nicolson, now 16-1, moved down from featherweight in 2025 after a split-decision loss to Tiara Brown and has since won four straight, per Sports Illustrated.

Brown, undefeated at 21-0 with 11 knockouts, will put her WBC featherweight title on the line against Ellie Scotney, who is 12-0. Scotney officially vacated her WBC super bantamweight title in May 2026 to move up to 126 pounds after previously unifying all four major titles at 122 pounds, according to Hoodline. Rounding out the title fights, unbeaten Ramla Ali (11-2, 3 KOs) meets Mikiah Kreps (11-0, 3 KOs) for the vacant WBO and IBF super bantamweight titles across 10 rounds.

Why Arlington, and What Comes Next

College Park Center, located on the University of Texas at Arlington campus, spans 218,000 square feet and seats up to 7,000 spectators, serving as the primary home arena for UTA Mavericks athletics and the WNBA's Dallas Wings. Most recently in coverage of Hoodline, a rally ahead of a Fever-Wings game — and the Arlington Sports Commission will serve as MVPW-07's host partner. The Wings have played at College Park Center since relocating to Texas in 2016, though the team has announced plans to move its home games to downtown Dallas's American Airlines Center for the 2027 season because of construction delays at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium.

MVPW-07 will broadcast on ESPN and the ESPN app, part of the multi-year media distribution deal MVP struck when it launched its dedicated women's boxing platform, MVPW, in March 2026. By April, MVP's roster had grown to 46 female fighters, including 16 reigning world champions, a scale that has let the promotion routinely stage cards stacked with unified and undisputed titles. A kickoff news conference for the card is set for Thursday in Birmingham, England, and MVP said additional bouts will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets go on sale September 10 at 10 a.m. Central time.