Women’s Boxing Evolution:

Is Claressa Shields the complete package?

Claressa Shields has accomplished more at the age of 23, then many Hall of Fame Boxers do in a whole career. Shields was born on March 17, 1995 in Flint, Michigan. In 2012 at the age of 17, Shields won the Gold Metal in the Women’s Middleweight Division in London. Four years later Shields return to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as a team Captain and Won Gold again. Shields became the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic medals. She also captured gold in the 2014 (Jeju) and 2016 (Astana) Middleweight World Championships. In 2015, Shields won another gold in the Light Heavyweight Division at the Pan American Games held in Toronto.

If you think Vasiliy Lomachenko jumped in with the sharks quick, Shields first professional fight was on November 19, 2016 at the T-Mobile Arena, against future and current WBC Super Middleweight World Champion Franchon Crews Dezurn. In less than a year after turning pro, Shields was 4-0 and the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion of the World. In 2018 Shields fought two more times and captured multiple titles in the Middleweight Division.

Claressa Shields was supposed to fight WBO Middleweight Champion Christina Hammer (23-0) on November 17th to keep her supernatural pace going but the German had to postpone the fight till next year because of sickness. Claressa will keep the date and take a stay busy fight as she gets ready for the anticipated Shields vs Hammer fight in 2019.

There has been some great womens boxers that set the stage for Shields such as Christy Martin, Ann Wolfe and Laila Ali. Trailblazer Christie Martin fought an incredible 24 years and became the first female boxer to be inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Wolfe had a great nine year career with a record of 24-1. Laila Ali (The daughter of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali) has a terrific 8 year career retiring undefeated in 2007 with a record of 24-0.

The other big name in women’s boxing outside of Shields and Hammer is Cecilia “The First Lady” Brækhus of Norway. The Norwegian has been the undisputed, unified Welterweight Super Champion for the last five years, holding all the major titles. Brækhus is currently 37 years old and Shields holds her in high regard.

Women’s boxing is in a current revolution, with Heather Hardy and Shelly Vincent putting on another terrific featherweight championship fight on HBO, word is starting to spread.

Will Claressa Shields be the Michael Jordan of basketball and launch the sport to a whole new level?

The combination of her accomplishments, age, talent, trashing talking skills, focus and handlers has Shields perfectly positioned and primed to take the boxing world by storm. Besides having all the boxing tools including youth, she has surrounded herself with people who have her best interest in mind. Dmitriy Salita of Salita Promotions has set Shields on the fast track and Manager/Advisor Mark Taffet is second to none when it comes to managing athletes. He is very detail oriented and makes sure everything, everyday is going well.

We are watching history in the making, I look forward to Claressa Shields taking us to places we thought couldn’t be reached.