Claressa Shields made good on her promise to thoroughly beat Christina Hammer and become the undisputed middleweight champion.
In the main event of a Showtime-televised card from Atlantic City, Shields dominated Hammer throughout 10 rounds to unify the 160-pound division and become the first woman to hold the WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine middleweight titles. Shields won with scores of 98-92, 98-91, 98-91 to add yet another historic accolade to her already impressive resume.
The fight was one-sided almost from the start. Hammer's best offense came from her jab work but it did not do much against the more aggressive Shields. It was the either round that perhaps sealed the fight for Shields. Shields completely outclassed her opponent to the point where she was awarded a 10-8 round from two of the three judges without scoring a knockdown. Shields nearly got the stoppage at the end of the eighth round with a barrage of punches directed at Hammer.
With just nine pro fights under her belt, Shields already has accomplished more than nearly every boxer, male or female, in the sport's long history. Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was a former unified champion at super middleweight and now joins Terence Crawford, Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Oleksandr Usyk and women’s welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus as the only fighters to have unified all four major alphabet world titles in any weight class.
Shields' career goal is to be considered the greatest female boxer in history and in a post-fight interview, she believes this performance cemented her status as an all-time great.
“I am the greatest woman of all time. I did it. She didn’t win a single round. I almost knocked her out. I swear I feel like I’m dreaming right now. Thanks to Christina Hammer and her team. They said she had a hard jab and they weren’t lying. Her jab is off the chain," Shields said.
As far as what is next for Shields, she is hoping for a superfight against Braekhus at 154 pounds and in a recent interview with Fightful, she believes that fight is one worthy of being on pay-per-view. That interview can be seen at the top of the page.
