Claressa Shields has finally received her wish and is on track to add another notch to her boxing legacy. Shields is scheduled to fight Savannah Marshall for the undisputed middleweight championship on Sept. 3.
The two have a history, as Marshall is the only fighter ever to hand Shields defeat when they were both amateurs. That bout took place in the second round of the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao, China. However, Shields is widely considered the greatest American amateur boxer of all time, male or female.
Gonna be big mad! I know you ain’t want this fight @Savmarshall1 but talked yourself into an ass whooping! No one has seen when I loss a very close fight to you in the amateurs! But THE ENTIRE WORLD IS GONNA SEE ME WIN NOW 🏆!!!!!
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) May 26, 2022
Fight Booked
Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) took to Twitter to share her elation.
“Gonna be big mad! I know you ain’t want this fight @Savmarshall1
but talked yourself into an ass whooping! No one has seen when I loss a very close fight to you in the amateurs! But THE ENTIRE WORLD IS GONNA SEE ME WIN NOW 🏆!!!!!”
The news comes on the heels of Shields’ frustration with what looked like a fight that might not happen this year. Last week, Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) told the media that she would ask for the fight to be delayed due to needing surgery after her April 2 knockout of Femke Hermans.
From Summer Showdown To Fighting In Fall
However, Shields was initially looking at a July showdown against Marshall. The WBO champion said as much after her last fight in April.
“There’s no one else in the way between me and Claressa, it’s me and Claressa in the summer,” Marshall said during her post-fight interview. “I know Claressa can’t handle my power. I believe I severely hurt Claressa. It’s Great Britain versus America.”
Shields echoed the sentiment setting up another potential watershed moment for the sport and the women’s ranks especially. The self-proclaimed Greatest Woman Of All Time or GWOAT attended Marshall’s third-round TKO win over Femke Hermans at Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle, England.
https://twitter.com/pauljac98819436/status/1529994471190204416?s=20&t=sRnYHSE1kC3KyyTfa6ONJA
“No Excuses”
“I told her bring that punching power with her in the summer. I don’t want to hear no excuses,” Shields said to the U.K. media.
“When I beat her, I want everybody to remember she said she was the biggest puncher in the middleweight division. Im going to show everybody, punching power can’t do sh*t to me, nothing.”
Shields does double duty as a mixed martial artist in the Professional Fighter’s League and was planning to return to MMA in September.
“Right now, I don’t know what’s going on with boxing because I was told July 9 for me and Savannah Marshall and then I was told July 30,” Shields said to ESPN. “And now I’m being told September, and I can’t fight her in September because I’m going to be in preparation for my MMA fight.”
A lot of y’all gonna find out that Savannah Marshall lost the fight from her page or the news cause I’m straight blocking weirdos lol.
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) May 27, 2022
Chasing Greatness
For Shields, the chance to become undisputed at middleweight for the third and second time is too good to pass up.
Shields holds the WBC, WBA, IBF, and The Ring middleweight titles. Marshall has the WBO title that Shields vacated while she chased becoming undisputed at light middleweight, which she accomplished in 2021.
With nothing standing in their way, Shields is looking to avenge her only loss ever and further solidify her claim to be the greatest woman ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
