Claressa Shields is a three-weight boxing world champion, two-time Olympic gold medallist and juggling two combat sports as she hopes to conquer MMA as she has done boxing over the past decade. Yet the 29-year-old knows lapping the field isn’t an exciting prospect for fans to watch, so new and unknown challenges like Canada’s Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse are her next port of call.
Shields doesn’t want previous success to bite back at her
- Fickle supporters don’t faze the three-weight world champion, as she told BoxingScene: “I think boxing fans have always been hard to please. One minute they’re with you, the next they’re not – just like any other fans – I have some great fans who’ve been with me through this whole thing.”
- Eyes on me: Shields will move up to heavyweight, where more than 18,000 spectators are expected for her bout against defending champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on July 27
- Claressa has just two stoppage victories in her 14-0 boxing record but as she returns to the discipline, insists a fan-friendly style is on show even if she is a commanding outlier against opposition: “Everybody loves to see a dominant performance and at least they see I’m actually going for the knockout, but with two minutes and ten rounds, it’s hard to do.”
Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (c, 7-1 with 2 KOs) vs. Claressa Shields (14-0, 2 KOs)
WBC, WBF world heavyweight, vacant WBO world light-heavyweight titles
July 27 at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena with Shohjahon Ergashev on undercard
CLARESSA Shields hears the outside noise, acknowledges it all and tries – easier said than done – to take it in her stride. Since making her professional debut in November 2016 with a four-round shutout win over current super-middleweight world champion Franchon Crews Dezurn, T-Rex has gone from strength-to-strength.
Three bouts and nine months later, she clinched unified world titles at 168lbs with a fifth-round TKO win over the previously-unbeaten German titlist Nikki Adler (16-0) before defending them 12 days into the new year in 2018 with a shutout ten-round victory over another unbeaten pro, former champion and compatriot Tori Nelson.
She moved down a weight class for her next four fights, all over the space of ten months as unifying the middleweight division against 24-0 champion Christina Hammer was completed before long without much hassle (98-92, 98-91 x 2).
Then, she moved down again to become undisputed in two weight classes against 17-0 titlist Marie Eve Dicaire, before venturing back up a division to settle a long-awaited score from her amateur days with Hartlepool’s Savannah Marshall – who was 12-0 before their historic bout headlined a BOXXER show at London’s O2 Arena.
“Boxing fans have not changed – they wanna see people get hurt, close friends, rock ’em, sock ’em robots – I think I’m cursed, where you just make everybody look like amateurs. Some fights you win, but you’re not getting the drops or hurting opponents, so people try to find ways to discredit what you’re doing.”
Since then, she defended the unified titles against a familiar face in former sparring partner Maricela Cornejo when headlining Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena last summer and showcased a boxing masterclass against a spirited opponent no-one gave a true chance to upset her. Originally, she was set to rematch Hanna Gabriels.
Gabriels tested positive for clostebol, a testosterone derivative, so Cornejo featured as a short-notice replacement and quickly looked out of her depth.
Shields returned to the MMA space afterwards, training for a bout she narrowly edged against Kelsey De Santis to honour her PFL contractual commitments, though the Michigan native is aware of the drawbacks created by success earlier in her career.
“I can’t say there’s not girls to fight at 160lbs, I just beat them all and early in my career. There were girls – I’ve just taken them out. I’ve been undisputed at 154lbs, twice at 160, a champion with two belts at 168lbs, literally fought the best girls already.
That’s why I have to find new challenges to test myself. I don’t want to get in the ring and everybody already know what the outcome will be.”
July 27 card, is as follows
Main event
10×2-minute rounds: Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse vs. Claressa Shields
10 rounds
Light-welterweight: Michel Rivera vs. Hugo Alberto Roldan
Light-welter: Shohjahon Ergashev vs. Julian Smith
Light-welter: Ernesto Mercado vs. Jose A Gonzalez
Lightweight: Joshua James Pagan vs. Jose Angulo, 8 rounds
8×2-minute rounds: Samantha Worthington vs. Edina Kiss, light-welter
6 rounds
Featherweight: Cameran Pankey vs. Shaileik Paisley
Light-middleweight: Husam Al Mashhadi vs. Bruno Leonardo Romay
Light-middle: Gordie Russ II vs. Josiah Shackleford
6×2-min rounds: Danielle Perkins vs. Christianne Fahey, middleweight
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via BoxingScene
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