Claressa Shields, the first-ever two-time American Olympic Gold Medalist in boxing, had fans excited when she won her professional debut last year, but her second fight will be on a bigger stage.
Shields will take on former world title challenger Szilvia Szabados on March 10. That fight will headline a ShoBox: The New Generation on Showtime broadcast at the MGM Grand Detroit Event Center. The fight is the first women?s fight to headline a boxing card on premium cable.
Shields told ESPN she is excited to be able to main event a boxing show, continuing the upward trend in women?s boxing entering the mainstream boxing consciousness..
"It is a dream come true to be the first woman to headline a boxing card on premium television," Shields said. "March 10 will be a historic night for boxing and all of the women who give so much to advance our sport. I want to thank Showtime, MGM Grand Detroit and Salita Promotions for this opportunity, and I will do everything to give my home state fans and the viewers a night to remember."
Showtime has been at the forefront of broadcasting women?s boxing of late. Showtime also broadcasted the Amanda Serrano vs. Yazmin Rivas fight which main evented a Showtime Extreme broadcast, but it was not the boxing card?s headliner. The Serrano vs. Rivas fight was on the undercard of Badou Jack vs. James DeGale that headlined the card.
Shields won her pro boxing debut on November 19, 2016 against Franchon Crews. Szabados only fought a few weeks ago, defeating Diana Marcz via TKO on January 12.