THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
In a male dominated sport, it is hard to make waves and hit the headlines but that is exactly what Claressa Shields is doing in boxing. Born in Flint, Michigan the 25-year-old is hitting new heights and showing no signs of stopping. There is a fight, though, that she cannot afford to avoid if she wants to be recognized as the best.
Nicknamed T-Rex, Shields first rose to fame by fighting her way through a hugely competitive Middleweight division at the US Olympic Trials to become hugely favored to represent her country at the London 2012 Games. A late rule change at the World Boxing Championships in China, the final major event before the Olympics, meant she would need to finish in the top two to reach London. In the second round of the tournament, she suffered an upset defeat to England's Savannah Marshall, and it was only when Marshall advanced further that Shields was finally accepted onto the US team, despite the loss being her only defeat at that time, a record of 26-1. Unperturbed by her loss she went on to win Gold in London, defeating Nadezda Torlopova of Russia.
In the following years Shields won more Gold. The 2014 World Championships were quickly followed by the Pan American games title in 2015. She then defended her World Championship title in 2016, before retaining Gold in that year's Olympics in Rio, this time beating Nouchka Fontijn from the Netherlands. This was the only time that a boxer from the US, male or female, had defended their Gold winning performance at consecutive Olympic Games. Her amateur record finished at an almighty 77 wins and 1 defeat, Savannah Marshall being the only fighter that had upset the T-Rex.
In November 2016 she officially turned professional and won her first bout. By August 2017 she held the WBC Super-Middleweight title, defeating Nikki Adler from Germany. The vacant IBF belt was also on the line, so now Shields was a multiple titleholder. Defending both belts in early 2018, she then went on to win the vacant WBA and new IBF middleweight titles by beating the Costa Rican, Hanna Gabriel.
Fast forward to April 2019 and a fight against another German, Christina Hammer, a fight Shields won with a huge unanimous decision to unify the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles and become the undisputed middleweight champion. Early 2020, and a new landmark was achieved by winning the junior middleweight fight against Ivana Hazabin, defeating the Croatian for the vacant WBO belt.
Having been out of the ring for so long, like so many, due to the pandemic, Shields became the fastest and only boxer to hold four belts in two weight divisions when she beat the Canadian Marie-Eve Dicaire March 5, to win the IBF 154lb belt and the vacant WBA light middleweight title. This was just her eleventh professional fight, a fight on an all-female card that happened a day before International Women's Day and helped push her own self-proclaimed agenda of being the GWOAT – Greatest Woman of All Time.
Never one to shy away from a brash quote Shields said that she was the second-greatest boxer – of either sex, ever. "Muhammad Ali is first, Claressa Shields is second," she told reporters before the fight last week. She has also claimed that "98 per cent of men can't beat me." It is easy to say these things when you can so ably back it up.
So, what's next?
Well, that single defeat needs to be avenged, and Savannah Marshall is on the radar. Marshall holds the WBO Middleweight title and has done so since October 2020. Nicknamed the Silent Assassin, she has shared a similar path to Shields, but the Gold medals have been a little harder to come by. However, after just 9 professional bouts she remains undefeated.
Marshall is the only blemish on Shields' record. Shields is in no doubt that the fight should be made and even called out Marshall's team to get it sorted: "Tell Eddie Hearn to come with 500k, or 750k if he wants me to go to the UK and smoke his girl." This is of course a reference to a deal that would go some way to give the women's side of the sport an equal footing with the men's version. The purse is so unproportional, despite female and male boxers taking the same risks and Shields' advisor Mark Taffet wants this addressed, "We love the Savannah Marshall fight, but we want Eddie Hearn, other promoters and the networks to join us in making significant advancements toward equality for women. And that includes appropriate pay for premium events ... Claressa Shields competes against women but she fights for equality. The time is now."
Shields says that the rule of fighting two-minute rounds instead of the three minutes that men fight, is also something that could change, "I'm not saying that fighting two minutes is causing us to get paid less. I am saying that we work for less time, but we want the same amount of money as the men who fight for three minutes. Mathematically 20 minutes vs 36 minutes. I wonder if we fought 36 minutes would we have a stronger argument for equal pay? Also, our fights would be more appealing and give us more time to display our skills like the men and break our opponents down. This is my take on it."
But with thoughts back on Marshall, and righting the only defeat of her short but successful career to date, Shields said, "Savannah's coach Peter Fury said she's too strong for me? Shut up, shut up! Savannah has not been challenged enough yet for her to be even saying my name. But if she wants to come see me? Then come see me. I'll shut her and her team up because they do too much talking for me!"
We'll wait to see if the fight does materialize. When it does it could be one we look back on as a landmark moment for women's boxing, both in and out of the ring.
