Claressa Maria Shields[1] (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two- and three-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights.[4] As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec,[5] as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN[6] and The Ring.[7]
Shields is one of only three boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, in two weight classes.
In a decorated amateur career, Shields won gold medals in the women's middleweight division at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, making her the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic medals.[8] Shields was the youngest boxer at the February 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, winning the event in the 165lb (75kg)middleweight division.[9][10][11] In May, she qualified for the 2012 Games, the first year in which women's boxing was an Olympic event,[12] and went on to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.[13] In 2018, the Boxing Writers Association of America named her the Female Fighter of the Year.[14]
Shields was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where she was a high school junior in May 2012.[9][10] She was introduced to boxing by her father, Bo Shields, who had boxed in underground leagues.[10][16] Bo was in prison from the time Shields was two years old, and released when she was nine. After his release, he talked to her about boxer Laila Ali, piquing her interest in the sport.[17] Bo, however, believed that boxing was a men's sport and refused to allow Shields to pursue it until she was eleven.[10][16][18] At that time she began boxing at Berston Field House in Flint, where she met her coach and trainer, Jason Crutchfield.[16] Shields credits her grandmother with encouraging her to not accept restrictions based on her gender.[10][19]
Amateur career
Shields with her Olympic gold medal in 2012
After winning two Junior Olympic championships, Shields competed in her first open-division tournament, the National Police Athletic League Championships 2011; she won the middleweight title and was named top overall fighter and also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.[20][21] At the 2012 Olympic Trials, she defeated the reigning national champion, Franchón Crews-Dezurn, the 2010 world champion, Andrecia Wasson, and Pittsburgh's Tika Hemingway to win the middleweight class.[20][10] In April 2011, she won her weight class at the Women's Elite Continental Championships in Cornwall, Ontario against three-time defending world champion Mary Spencer of Canada; she held an undefeated record of 25 wins and 0 losses at that point.[10][16][22]
On May 10, the day after the contest began but before Shields' first bout, a change to the rules was announced that meant Shields would need to place in the top two from the (North, Central, and South) American Boxing Confederation region of AIBA (AMBC).[23]
Shields won her first round but was beaten in the second round on May 13 to Savannah Marshall of England, bringing Shields' record to 26–1.[24]
Shields (in red) vs. Yenebier Guillén Benítez, 2015
Her chances for qualification thus depended on Marshall's subsequent performance; after Marshall advanced to the middleweight finals on May 18, it was announced that Shields had earned an Olympic berth.[25] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, aged 17, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division after beating veteran Russian boxer Nadezda Torlopova 19–12.[12][26]
In 2014, Shields won the World Championship gold medal,[27] and the following year, she became the first American to win titles in women's boxing at the Olympics and Pan American Games.[28] As a result of her performance in the Pan American Games, she was given the honour of serving as Team USA's flag bearer at the closing ceremony.[29]
Shields won the gold medal at the 2016 AMBC Olympic Qualifying tournament in Argentina defeating Dominican Republic's Yenebier Guillen in her final bout on her 21st birthday.[30][25] Later that year at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division by defeating Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands. She was awarded the inaugural women's division of the Val Barker Trophy at the competition.[31] Her back-to-back Olympic gold medal wins made her the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic titles.[8]
Her amateur boxing record was 64 wins (5 by knockout[24][32][33]) and 1 loss.[34][35]
Professional boxing career
Claressa Shields in 2016
In November 2016, Shields officially went pro. She won her first match, against Franchón Crews-Dezurn, by unanimous decision.[36]
On March 10, 2017, she faced Szilvia Szabados for the North American Boxing Federation middleweight title, and won by TKO. This was the main event on ShoBox, with a regional title fight between Antonio Nieves and Nikolai Potapov serving as the co-main event.[37] It was the first time a women's boxing bout was the main event on a United States premium network card.[38][39]
On June 16, 2017, Shields headlined the "Detroit Brawl," facing Sydney LeBlanc in her first scheduled eight-round bout. LeBlanc signed on with three days notice, after Mery Rancier dropped out due to visa issues.[40][41] Shields won the bout by decision after all eight rounds.[42]
On August 4, 2017, Shields defeated defending champ Nikki Adler at MGM Grand Detroit for the WBCsuper-middleweight belt and the vacant IBF super-middleweight belt. By 5th Rd TKO the ref had to jump in to protect The undefeated Nikki Adler. The fight was broadcast on Showtime.[43]
On January 12, 2018, Shields retained her WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles, and won the WBAN super-middleweight title by defeating 17-0 Tori Nelson. It was Shields' first time going all 10 rounds in her professional career.[44][45][46]
On June 22, 2018, in just her sixth professional fight, Shields defeated Hanna Gabriel by unanimous decision, winning the vacant WBA and inaugural IBF middleweight belts, breaking the record for becoming a two-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights, a record previously held by Vasyl Lomachenko.[47] During Round 1, she experienced the first knock down of her professional career. She dropped down from 168 pounds to 160 for the fight. This was her first fight with trainer John David Jackson, having worked with Jason Crutchfield for the previous 5.[48][49]
On December 8, 2018, Shields' fight aired on HBO, her first appearance on the network, a fight which was a part of the last boxing card to occur on HBO. She faced Femke Herman's outboxing her all 10 rounds for a unanimous decision.[50]
On April 13, 2019, Shields became the undisputed women's middleweight world champion, unifying the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO middleweight titles, along with The Ring magazine's inaugural middleweight belt, after defeating Christina Hammer by unanimous decision.[51] The victory was a near shutout with two judges scoring the bout 98–91 while a third judge scored it 98–92.
Shields was scheduled to fight Ivana Habazin for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title in Flint, Michigan, on October 5, 2019.[52] However, the fight was postponed due to Habazin's trainer being attacked at the weigh in.[53] The fight eventually took place on January 10, 2020, with an all female ring (referee).[54] The Atlantic boardwalk hall had a sold out Venue as Claressa won by unanimous decision, 99–89, 100–90 and 100–89, and became the fastest ever to win titles in 3 divisions male or female in history.[55]
On March 5, 2021, Shields defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision to retain her WBC and WBO super welterweight titles, claim IBF 154-pound belt, and vacant WBA light middleweight strap. With the win she has become the first world champion boxer in four-belt era to hold undisputed titles in two different weight divisions. This Fight took place in Shields hometown with limited crowd due to COVID-19 pandemic.[56][57]
Shields then faced Ema Kozin on February 5, 2022.[58] She captured a unanimous decision with all referees scoring every round for her, and retained her WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring female middleweight titles meanwhile winning the WBF female middleweight title also.[59]
Shields was initially scheduled to face reigning WBO Middleweight Champion Savannah Marshall in a title unification bout on September 10, 2022.[60] However, due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II the bout was postponed to take place on October 15, 2022.[61]
On the night of the fight, Shields went the full 10 round distance against Marshall. According to CompuBox stats, Shields outlanded Marshall 175 to 136; landed significantly more jabs, 44 to 14; and landed more power, 131 to 122. Shields won via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 97–93 and one scoring it 96–94, all in favor of Shields to become the undisputed middleweight world champion.[62] This fight occurred at the O2 Arena and was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom.[63][64] As well, the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.[65]
Professional mixed martial arts career
In November 2020, Shields had signed a three-year contract with Professional Fighters League and was expected to make her mixed martial arts debut in 2021.[15][66] Since Shields first announced that her MMA debut, she has also begun training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has gone to train under IBJJF no gi World Champion Roberto Alencar, alongside Holly Holm.[67] She also started training at JacksonWink MMA in late 2020.[3]
Shields made her MMA debut at PFL 4 on June 10, 2021, against Brittney Elkin.[68] She won the fight via technical knockout in round three.[69]
Her second bout was initially scheduled to take place on the PFL 9 event on August 27, 2021, against an opponent yet to be named.[70] However, on July 12, 2021, news surfaced that her bout was rescheduled to take place on August 19, 2021, in order to garner more exposure at an ESPN-aired PFL 8 event.[71] It was eventually rescheduled for PFL 10 on October 27, 2021, with Shields facing Abigail Montes.[72] Shields lost the bout via split decision.[73]
In August 2023, it was announced that Shields had re-signed a multi-year contract with Professional Fighters League to continue competing in mixed martial arts.[74]
Shields faced Kelsey DeSantis on February 24, 2024, at PFL vs. Bellator.[75] She was unable to make the appropriate weight for her fight with DeSantis, forcing her opponent to fight up two weight classes, with the bout taking place at 165 pounds. Shields won the bout via split decision.[76]
Personal life
Shields and Vice President Joe Biden in 2012. Shields introduced Biden during a 2012 campaign stop in Michigan.
Shields is from Flint, Michigan. Shields was baptized at age 13 (two years after she began boxing) and began attending a local church. She found strength in her Christian faith and eventually left home.[77]
Shields attempted to adopt her cousin's daughter in 2014.[78]
Shields is an ambassador for Up2Us Sports, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting underserved youth by providing them with coaches trained in positive youth development.[79]
Shields is also an ambassador for gender equality in sports, particularly boxing, which she insists is under-covered by the media.[80][81]
Shields is the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold.[83][84] In 2016 Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast, which holds Olympic broadcast rights in the United States, acquired the rights to produce a film about her life story.[85]Barry Jenkins is the screenwriter.[86] Entitled Flint Strong, Rachel Morrison will be directing, with actress Ryan Destiny portraying Shields. In May 2022, seven months after Universal put the film in a turnaround, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the distribution rights.[87]
Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses to women boxers, and most nations officially banning the sport. Reports of women entering the ring go back to the 18th century.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Jermain Taylor is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring middleweight titles in 2005 by beating Bernard Hopkins, and in doing so ending Hopkins' ten-year reign as middleweight champion. This made Taylor the first, and to date, only male boxer in history to claim each title from all four major boxing sanctioning organizations in a single fight. He once again defeated Hopkins six months later, making him the only fighter to have defeated Hopkins twice. He retired as a world champion in the months that followed his capture of the IBF middleweight title for a second time, after making a substantial recovery from a brain injury sustained earlier in his career.
In boxing, the undisputed champion of a weight class is the boxer who simultaneously holds world sanctioning organisations recognized major by each other and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. There are currently four major sanctioning bodies: WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. There were many undisputed champions before the number of major sanctioning bodies recognizing each other increased to four in 2007, but there have only been 18 boxers to hold all four titles simultaneously.
Cecilia Carmen Linda Brækhus is a Norwegian professional boxer and former kickboxer. She reigned as the undisputed female welterweight boxing champion from 2014 to 2020, and is the first woman in any weight class to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously. Brækhus is also one of only 11 boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles simultaneously. She also held the IBO title from 2016 to 2020.
Amanda Serrano is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. As a boxer, she is the unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBO title since 2019, IBO title since 2021, IBF title since 2022 and the WBA title since 2023. She is the only female, and Puerto Rican, to win world titles in more than four weight classes, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most boxing world championships won in different weight-classes by a female, having held 9 major world titles across seven different weight classes.
Marlen Esparza is an American professional boxer who held the WBC female flyweight title since June 2021 and the WBA and The Ring female flyweight title since April 2022, and the WBO one since July, 2023. As an amateur, she became the first American woman to qualify for the Olympics in the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event, going on to win a bronze medal in the women's flyweight division at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Savannah Rose Marshall is a British professional boxer. She has held world championships in two weight classes: the undisputed and Ring magazine female super-middleweight title since July 2023; and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female middleweight title from 2020 to 2022. As an amateur, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 World Championships. She has been nicknamed as the 'Silent Assassin' due to a combination of her shyness and her multiple knockout wins. As of October 2022, she was ranked the world's second best active female middleweight by BoxRec and by The Ring.
Christina Hammer is a German boxer. As a professional, she has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO female middleweight title from 2010 to 2019, becoming the youngest boxer to win a WBO world title; the WBC female middleweight title between 2016 and 2018; and the WBO female super-middleweight title in 2013. She also challenged once for the WBO female light-middleweight title in 2014 and once for the undisputed female middleweight championship against Claressa Shields in 2019.
Nikki Adler is a Croatian-German professional boxer. She held the WBC female super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2017.
Marie-Ève Dicaire is a Canadian professional boxer who is a 2-time IBF female light middleweight champion from 2018 to March 2021 and from December 2021 to November 2022. In 2013, she was named athlete of the year by Boxing Quebec. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's second best active female light middleweight by The Ring and BoxRec.
Tori Jovan Nelson is an American professional boxer. She is a former three-weight world champion, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2011: the WIBA middleweight title in 2012; the WIBA welterweight from 2013 to 2014; and the WIBA super middleweight title in 2016. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the third best active female middleweight by The Ring by BoxRec.
Ivana Habazin is a Croatian professional boxer. She is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF female welterweight title in 2014 and the IBO female middleweight title in 2018.
Franchón Crews-Dezurn is an American professional boxer. She is the current World Boxing Council (WBC) Super middleweight world champion and World Boxing Association (WBA) interm world champion defeating Shadasia Green December 15, 2023. She was the undisputed world champion at super middleweight, losing to Savannah Marshall on 2 July 2023. She held the World Boxing Council (WBC) titles between 2018 and 2023; the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title between 2019 and 2023; and the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) title between 2022 and 2023. As of May 2022, she is ranked as the world's best active female super middleweight by The Ring and BoxRec.
Hannah Rankin is a British professional boxer and bassoonist. She has held the WBA female super-welterweight title since November 2021. She has also held the IBO title in 2019 and challenged for the WBA female super-middleweight title in 2018; the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF female middleweight titles in 2018; and the WBO female middleweight title in 2020. As of October 2020, she is ranked as the fifth best active female middleweight by The Ring and sixth by BoxRec.
Femke Hermans is a Belgian professional boxer. She is the current IBF and IBO female super welterweight world champion. She held the WBO female super-middleweight title in 2018, becoming the second Belgian woman to hold a major world championship, and also challenged for the WBA female super-middleweight title and unified WBA, WBC, and IBF female middleweight titles in 2018.
The PFL 10 mixed martial arts event for the 2021 season of the Professional Fighters League was held on October 27, 2021. This was the finale of the playoffs for all divisions, with the winners getting $1 million cash prize.
Alycia Baumgardner is an American professional boxer. She has held the WBC and IBO female super featherweight titles since 2021, and the WBO, IBF, and The Ring female super featherweight titles since 2022. She became the undisputed female super featherweight champion of the world on February 4, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
