Claressa Shields becomes undisputed champion with shutout win vs. Dicaire

Claressa Shields (purple gloves) dominated Marie-Eve Dicaire to win all of the major belts at 154 lbs on Friday night. | Fite TV

Shields became the first boxer, man or woman, to garner undisputed champ status in two weig…


Claressa Shields (purple gloves) dominated Marie-Eve Dicaire to win all of the major belts at 154 lbs on Friday night.
Claressa Shields (purple gloves) dominated Marie-Eve Dicaire to win all of the major belts at 154 lbs on Friday night. | Fite TV

Shields became the first boxer, man or woman, to garner undisputed champ status in two weight classes.

Claressa Shields’ (11-0, 2 KOs) pay-per-view main event debut went as expected, with the two-time Olympic gold medalist picking apart Marie-Eve Dicaire (17-1, 0 KOs) in a shutout unanimous decision (100-90 x3) to become the undisputed junior middleweight champion — meaning she possesses the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO belts. Shields is already the undisputed middleweight champ, making her the first boxer, man or woman, to be undisputed in two weight classes.

A crowd of about 375 cheered on Shields in her native Flint, Michigan. Shields clearly tried going for the knockout once it was well established that she was the superior boxer and that Dicaire had nothing in return to trouble her, but it never came close to materializing. Claressa outlanded the Canadian 116-31 and repeatedly found success with her power punches.

In the post-fight interview, Shields did voice her displeasure with Dicaire’s roughhousing.

“100-90, I can’t be mad about it,” Shields said (via Bad Left Hook). “But she just kept headbutting me and elbowing me. I was trying to get a knockout, that’s what I wanted, and it almost happened a couple times, but we got two minutes, and then we got the ref breaking it up when she’s holding and fucking elbowing me,” Shields said. “But at the end of the day, I am the new undisputed champion at 154, first boxer in history to do it, undisputed twice.”

Shields will now switch over to MMA, where she’s expected to make her debut in the Professional Fighters League in June. Her intention is to compete in both sports but truth be told, there is surely more intrigue in seeing how this highly accomplished 25-year-old fares in MMA compared to just the lack of viable or interesting opponents for her in boxing. And at least in MMA they don’t do stupid shit like reduce the number of rounds and minutes in a round as is the case for women’s boxers.

Here are some of the highlights below: