Short-notice challenger Maricela Cornejo gamely absorbed punishment aplenty over a bruising 20 minutes, but was firmly second best against Claressa Shields as the undisputed middleweight queen retained her titles at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena overnight. The 28-year-old expressed interest in an intriguing world title fight at 168lbs between two former opponents, taking place July 1.
Shields satisfied with showing vs. Cornejo, who survived
100-89, 100-90, 100-90: Claressa Shields bt. Maricela Cornejo via UD, defends her undisputed middleweight titles while improving to 14-0 as a pro
- Shields swarms, repeatedly hurts Cornejo but can’t stop 36-year-old – a former sparring partner – on return to Michigan in show’s main event
- “I felt great, landed my shots, pressed for the knockout I don’t know how many times! Maricela had a good right, knew how to survive… height doesn’t matter, power either, it’s about skills, wills and heart, I have more of that than all these girls,” Shields tells DAZN’s Chris Mannix post-fight
- 28-year-old reaffirms desire to fight the Franchon Crews Dezurn vs. Savannah Marshall winner, hints that she’ll travel to UK and watch ringside on July 1 in Manchester but wants another bout on US soil next
Yesterday, I wrote this article and signed it off saying women’s boxing lacks quality depth across the board, so it’s easy to understand why two-time Olympic champion Claressa Shields wants to challenge herself in another discipline.
Watching her soak up the atmosphere, headlining an event at Little Caesars Arena – the Detroit Pistons’ home – it’s conversely natural to long for bigger moments of that ilk, further cementing the legacy she’s worked tirelessly to self-proclaim.
Regardless of what may be next there was first business to attend to against a familiar face, and in Maricela Cornejo, the 36-year-old had physical advantages original opponent Hanna Gabriels couldn’t boast opposite the pound-for-pound best.
After an unspectacular first round, a series of vicious shots whizzed from Shields’ gloves as she swarmed the Washington-born boxer backwards. It didn’t look particularly good, as the 21-bout pro wasn’t exactly defending intelligently either.
Right hands and left hooks landed clean, as Mannix told the audience of Franchon Crews Dezurn’s thoughts on a challenger quickly appearing out of her depth here.
“She has good size, power, technique but is missing the secret sauce – when the going gets tough, she doesn’t,” the undisputed 168lb world champion told him during fight week, but Shields’ intermittent bursts weren’t enough for an early night.
An inability to consistently get close enough, only prolonged this beating. Yet she was comfortable enough to showboat along the ropes in round four, while visibly headhunting in the fifth as commentators questioned why she didn’t target the body.
You could hear her trainer, Jonathan David Jackson, audibly tell her to cut the ring off and force Cornejo to engage with her before round six – she did it sparingly – countering in the corner an awareness to avoid the right-hand coming back.
He wanted her to throw more straight punches, rather than hooking with bad intentions but telegraphing those shots and allowing Cornejo an opportunity to better survive, manoevuring and tying up whenever the threat intensified.
To the challenger’s credit, she made up for their skill disparity by displaying chin durability to eat several big shots in the seventh.
Shields snapped her head back and was chasing her, with none other than a straight right down the middle wobbling her up against the ropes in the final seconds.
Not for the first time, this marked a timely reminder of how desperately women’s boxing needs three-minute rounds.
Shields boxed more methodically in the eighth, rather than solely targeting the knockout punch, and Jackson’s comments before the final round said all you needed to know as far as this being a competitive contest.
Whatever you wanna do, this is the last round – just don’t get careless. Trainers naturally feel compelled to reinforce that, but there was no such trepidation here.
“Some of my shots were curving, the straight rights were money. When I hit and hurt her, she’d just take off… I let her out to the right too many times, so we’ll work on that when I get back to the gym.
Maricela was super tough, [scheduled to] fight at a smaller weight class, was able to take the shots and knew how to get away from it. I can’t wait to go home and watch it, see what I have to work on and all the great things I did.
Thank y’all for coming out, it means so much to me. Seeing all the fans, I couldn’t explain how excited I was so thanks… hope you come out for me again, and I make you proud.”
- Shields on another one-sided decision win, the reception she received
We’ll wait and see what’s next for a champion searching to make more history in her prime years.
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes and GIF usage via DAZN broadcast
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