Claressa Shields' opportunity to become boxing's next undisputed champion will have to wait after Shields revealed her opponent is no longer able to fight her this November.
Shields, the unified WBA and IBF women's middleweight champion, was supposed to face WBO and WBC champion Christina Hammer on November 17, but that fight is no longer happening. Although an announcement is set to be made soon, Shields said Hammer had to pull out of the fight because of a medical condition that will keep her away from the ring until March 2019.
Below are Shields' tweets breaking the news and her immediate reaction to the news. Shields, the first American boxer to win two Olympic gold medals in boxing, added that she will still fight on November 17, though a replacement opponent has not been announced.
The fight between Shields and Hammer was supposed to headline a Showtime-televised card from the Adrian Phillips Theater in the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
