Two-time Olympic gold medalist, WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO World Middleweight, WBC, IBF World Super Middleweight, WBO World Light Heavyweight and WBC, WBF World Heavyweight champion Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields has won them all.
As a freshman, Shields had an outstanding record of 63-1 with 11 stoppages. As I went down the list of opponents, only one stood out. That was her only loss in her fifteenth fight to Savannah ‘Silent Assassin’ Marshall, 32-7, of the UK, in the finals of the AIBA Women’s World Championship in China in May 2012.
In October 2022, they met again. Marshall was 12-0 in his fourteenth Shield fight, and Shields won by decision in London.
Shields won Olympic gold medals in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.
As a professional, he is 15-0 with 3 knockouts, and in his most recent fight this weekend at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, he will put on another world title.
For Shields, a native of Flint, Michigan, it was a homecoming for him. She entered the arena wearing an evening gown fit for a queen. When the ring was later presented it was like the atmosphere of a carnival.
Within six minutes, she will capture both the light heavyweight and heavyweight belts, destroying champion Vanessa ‘Vany’ LePage-Joanisse, however, with only eight fights, 7-1 with two stoppages, she was defending herself for the first time. He came down from his hometown of Saint Andre Avellin, Quebec, Canada. For a limited time of only three amateurs at www.boxrec.com each
The 29-year-old Le Page-Joanisse won his heavyweight title in his previous fight winning the vacant WBC Heavyweight title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, 10-1 4, the former Southern champion American Super Welterweight who once won the WBC Heavyweight title. he lost the world title fight at that weight. In his previous world title fight his opponent’s record was 0-3-3. He wonders how he ever qualified.
Can Shields compete with Lucia Ryker, 17-0, of the Netherlands, whose career ended in injury? Or against the hard-hitting Anne Wolfe, 24-1 with 16 stops? How about Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila ‘She Bee Stingin’ Ali, 24-0 with 21 shutouts?
Going back to that one fight this writer remembers talking about in April of 2019 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Shields was 8-0, while her opponent, the WBC and WBO middleweight champion, Christina Hammer, has had limited bouts of ateur but as a champion, 24-0, from Kazakhstan who lives in Dortmund , Germany. He won the WBC, WBO middleweight, and WBO super middleweight world titles.
I remember getting a picture with him before the fight wearing my GGG Golovkin t-shirt. When he saw it he smiled, being from the same country as KAZ.
In the coverage of the fight between Shields and Hammer, I was not happy to see that the referee was Sparkle Lee from New Jersey. I’m surprised Hammer promoter Tom Loeffler, who also worked with GGG, didn’t question this.
Covering the fight, I watched from the first to the tenth round that every time Hammer attacked, Lee would step in and stop him. Round after round, this continued. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that when the decision was announced in favor of Shields 98-92 and 98-91 twice, I realized that I had to go to the Hammer’s dressing room later.
When I entered the dressing room, I gave my opinion to the promoter Loeffler, and he insisted that I not talk to Hammer about this. The woman was crying, sitting next to Hammer. When Loeffler left, I told Hammer what I saw and heard, and said, “He’s a champion!” He nodded as if he agreed, and I left.
Since then, Hammer has had only four fights against a limited group, the last of which was in May of 2022, the last three of which he moved up to super middleweight, all in Germany. At 28-1 with 13 stoppages, the 34-year-old Hammer is just a memory.
I’ve been wondering if that battle ever happened to ‘haunt’ Shields. It worries me and probably Hammer.
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