Claressa Shields regained the WBC and WBA middleweight championships with a sixth-round stoppage of Kaye Scott in Atlanta, marking her third reign as a middleweight world titlist.
Having stepped down from heavyweight for this contest, Shields asserted full control of the bout, with the tide decisively turning in the sixth round when the 42-year-old Scott was dropped and then overwhelmed by a sustained flurry of power punches against the ropes.
The action concluded at one minute and 38 seconds of the sixth round after Scott’s corner repeatedly entered the ring, signaling surrender.
The victory extended Shields’ unbeaten record to 19-0, reinforcing her status as the WBO welterweight champion and self-declared “Greatest Woman of All Time” (GWOAT), particularly amid speculation surrounding Katie Taylor’s potential retirement.
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“It was a hard camp,” Shields said. “I always tell myself that everything is easy work, but it was a really hard camp.
“I cut 38 pounds. I started 14 weeks ago at 198 and got down to 160. It was the most disciplined I’ve been since the Olympics, I feel like.
“She was stronger than I thought. She was very strong. I knew that, with the amount of weight I’d cut, I didn’t want to exert too much energy early.
“I was trying to make sure I could deal with her strength and not get caught with anything crazy, because I’m not as strong as I feel at 175.”
Lauren Price is now Shields’ preferred opponent at 160lbs, with the American confirming her desire to face the Welsh boxer between December and January.
The contest has already garnered interest from Price’s camp, though Shields’ promoter, Dmitriy Salita, believes the high-profile matchup would be best suited to a U.S. venue.
“Claressa came down to middleweight to make the biggest fights possible,” Salita stated to Sky Sports. “We want to make this a mega-event, and I believe that fight belongs in the United States.”
“That being said, we love the UK, and another fight there is certainly not out of the question. It’s an incredible time for women’s boxing,” he added.
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