Claressa Shields Becomes Undisputed Again Decisioning Marshall

In a long awaited rematch from their days at amateurs, the women’s undisputed middleweight title fights Saturday night in London lived up to the hype. This, as Claressa Shields out fought Savannah Marshall to once again, become four belt world champion and for the second time in the middleweight division.

The bout was the main event of the Boxer Promotions card at the O2 Arena and it saw Shields come away with a unanimous decision win 97-93 and then, 96-94 on the other two scorecards to remain undefeated and avenge her only loss as an amateur fighter.

The GWOAT @Claressashields is the UNDISPUTED middleweight world champion 👑 🌍#ShieldsMarshall | 15 Oct | 02 Arena, London I @skysportsboxing @hennessysports @SalitaProm pic.twitter.com/RRVXDL1VD4

— BOXXER (@boxxer) October 15, 2022

That bout came in the amateur world championships tournament 10 years ago (2012). Shields, however, went on to win two Olympic Gold Medals and is arguably the premier women’s world champion in boxing history. And, she did nothing to tarnish that in front of a heavily partisan crowd backing Marshall Saturday.

Shields got the better of Marshall with hard right hands and lefts the body throughout the fight. To her credit Marshall, who did hold the WBO version of the title coming in, took Shields best punches and continued to fire back. She also landed hard right hands of her own that seem to on a couple of occasions stun Shields along the ropes. Neither fighter was ever in serious trouble and there were no knockdowns in the fight.

However Shields showed some championship moxie by out-landing and impressing the judges over the final two championship rounds- the 9th and 10th.

Shields told Sky Sports through tears in the ring after her victory,

“I just want to thank God, because I have worked so hard and no one has given me credit. But after that display tonight and after that tough opponent, you know, I couldn’t even see out of my right eye after round 6 because she hits hard.

I think that was the fight of the year. I am so happy. She’s a tough competitor. She’s a hard puncher. She has endurance, but I’m the better fighter. 10 years later. And if you ask me, I’m 2-0 against her. I don’f feel I lost in the amateurs.

I dig down every round. Every time she hit me with a big shot, I hit her back with a big shot…. but I know I did the most work today and I was winning with inside combinations.”

The bout, along with the women’s jr. lightweight, unified title co-feature won by Alycia Baumgardner over Mikaela Mayer, were both delayed the death last month of Queen Elizabeth II.

Shields made the most of the wait and the opportunity by winning.

She also becomes the first female or male fighter to ever be a three-time Undisputed world champion in the four-built era. The final punch stats showed Shields landed 175- 136 advantage signifying that the fight was close. However the judges were not swayed by the rampant shearing at anything Marshall did in the second half of the fight