Alycia Baumgardner can be forgiven if, years from now, she doesn’t look back on the period from August 2023 to September 2024 as the happiest time of her life.

She’s a boxer who couldn’t box. She tested positive for banned substances and spent about six months fighting to clear her name (and she knows that fight for her reputation could last the rest of her career). In April, her father, Mario Guzman, the man who first introduced her to boxing, died at the age of 56. And she continued to deal with the threats and distractions of a man accused of stalking her until he was finally convicted in July—for the second time, since the stalking resurfaced after his first release from prison.

Baumgardner last fought on July 15, 2023, when she convincingly defeated Christina Linardatou (with a PED controversy after the fact) on points to avenge the only loss of her career. A year, two months, and 12 days later, she will return to the ring on September 27 to defend one of her junior lightweight titles against Delfine Persoon.

It’s secure to say that Baumgardner, who went from 20 to 30 during her break from work, has a lot of pent-up frustration she can take out on the Belgian veteran.

“I’ve been through so much,” Baumgardner told Boxing Scene. “This win has so much history and I know what it’s going to be like. I have so much to fight for. It all reminds me of how I felt when I became world champion against Terri Harper. And you know how that ended.”

(In case anyone reading this didn’t know: a violent right hook in the fourth round that pinned Harper and knocked her to her feet.)

So, considering everything she has been through – the mourning, the stress, the criticism, the lack of activity – will Baumgardner struggle with the proverbial grief on September 27?

“Yeah, well… every fight I have something to prove,” she replied. “It seems like every fight I go in with something to prove.”

The only time in her career that Baumgardner, 15-1 (7 KOs), hasn’t fought for an extended period of time was a 20-month layoff from December 2019 to August 2021, due to a combination of ACL surgery and a global pandemic that has thrown a wrench in everyone’s plans. But she’s not worried about the 14-month layoff affecting her. She’s been in the gym all year and expects to be in tip-top shape for the Persoon showdown.

However, she admits that the reason for her dismissal – the doping controversy – has weakened her momentum and damaged her reputation.

Reminder: She tested positive for mesterolone and methenolone metabolites before her win over Linardatou, and the results were released a month later. The test was conducted by Drug Free Sport, a voluntary third-party agency, and Baumgardner has consistently maintained her innocence — which may or may not mean anything, since most boxers who test positive deny the results. The WBC, whose title she will defend later this month, conducted an investigation and concluded that Baumgardner was “not guilty of intentionally ingesting or consuming a banned substance for the purpose of enhancing performance.”

She was given a one-year probation period from the alphabetical order backdated to July 2023, the Association of Boxing Commissions lifted her suspension, and here we are. Linardatou’s triumph remained a triumph. The positive test was expunged from her record.

But it can’t be erased from everyone’s memory.

“I know it’s a blemish, for sure,” Baumgardner said. “Of course, I don’t like it, but it is what it is and I can only move forward and just continue to prove who I am and stand for neat sports and stand for honesty in being heard. Boxing is one of those sports where some people don’t get a chance to be heard, and I was fortunate enough to be heard and show everything I needed to show to be found innocent. I know the truth. I know who I am and what my integrity is as an athlete. I can only continue on my own path to continue to show up in my real self.”

Her path now runs through Persoon, who is no simple target. The only losses on her 49-3 (19 KO) record are a TKO loss suffered well before the midterm elections in Barack Obama’s first term in office and two incredibly close decisions — one of them highly disputed — to Katie Taylor. She has defeated the best of the rest that the 130- and 135-pound divisions have had to offer over the past decade, including Linardatou, Maiva Hamadouche and Elhem Mekhaled, who all handed Persoon their first career losses.

Although she is 39 years elderly, she is probably not yet in top form, but she has remained undefeated for the past four years.

“I think a lot of people might not see this fight, but I have a great opponent in front of me and I love this fight,” Baumgardner said. “It’s not like I came back and just picked Joe Schmoe off the street to fight. I have someone in front of me who’s going to come fight. And when I win, I’m going to show that I can do what Katie Taylor couldn’t do with Delfine.”

Baumgardner will be trying to do that in the transition phase on several fronts. She has a novel training team, as Tony Harrison has left, and Ramon Carlos Matthews is now the main voice in the gym and in her corner. Additionally, this is “The Bomb’s” final fight under her Matchroom contract, and she has launched her own promotional company, Baumgardner Promotions, before becoming a free agent.

“I think it’s essential for a female athlete to understand the business side of boxing,” she explained. “When I started, I knew I wanted to be my own boss eventually. With Baumgardner Promotions, it’s a lot of extra work, but I’m willing to do it. I don’t know everything. I learn as I go. But it’s so essential for athletes to understand the business and be able to negotiate for themselves.”

The launch of Baumgardner Promotions isn’t the only way she’s trying something novel. The entire card, an all-women event taking place on the Lux Stage at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, is full of experimentation. It’s being billed as the first fight card in an “immersive world environment,” taking place on an LED stage where graphic designers build a virtual backdrop.

It’s also being aired/streamed for free on Brinx.TV and Fubo Sports, both of which are taking boxing on for the first time. Spokesperson Josh Weissman connected Global Combat Collective (who won the $500,000 mandatory fight) to Brinx.TV, while Global Combat Collective CEO Nelson Lopez Jr. had connections to Fubo and they decided to strike deals with both operators.

For Baumgardner it was especially essential to make the fight free.

“When it comes to boxing, all eyes are good,” she said.

Interestingly, Baumgardner isn’t a substantial fan of the event’s promotional slogan: “Hit like a girl, fight like a champion.” She’s not a fan of using the word “girl” when all the fighters on the card are adult women, and she’d like to see the focus put on the quality of the fights, not the gender of the fighters.

“Look, I understand why they operate that phrase,” she said. “But to me it’s kind of a cliché. And I want it to be like that, when we talk about sports, we just talk about I want to change the concept of constantly considering that it is boxing. And these aren’t juvenile girls on the card. We’re all women, adults, fighting on the card. So I don’t mind saying that, but I have to be truthful: I don’t like it.”

Let’s focus on the second part of the slogan. Let’s assume Baumgardner fights like a champion. Let’s assume she defeats Persoon. What happens to her?

“ I’m going to win this fight,” she said, emphasizing that it’s not an “if” situation, “and that allows me to pole vault for a superfight that we’ve wanted for a while. I think the Katie Taylor fight makes sense. I want to fight Katie, I want to fight Amanda [Serrano]. People want to see that. I want to see that. I want to know where I am in my career and what my skills are. These are superfights. We want superfights. We want substantial fights. I’m undisputed at 130, and moving up is no problem.”

Taylor and Serrano are scheduled to meet in a rematch on November 15 on Netflix for the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight. So if Baumgardner wins on September 27 — sorry, wins on September 27th — don’t be surprised if you see her in Arlington, Texas a month and a half later, announcing the winner in person.

Until then, she’ll likely take out most of her pent-up frustration on Persoon. But Baumgardner is one of those players who always seems to have something in store for whoever comes next.