Shields is coming out swinging after a Michigan commission drug test came back positive, reportedly for trace amounts of marijuana.
Did the “GWOAT” take a toke leading up to her one sided beatdown of Danielle Perkins on February 2nd? That’s what Michigan’s Unarmed Combat Commission is alleging after a pre-fight drug test returned positive for marijuana.
Claressa Shields became the undisputed heavyweight champion two weeks ago, adding the IFB, WBO, and WBA titles to her collection of WBC and WBF belts. Heavyweight is the third weight class she has unified during her impressive career. The toughest challenge is finding worthy opponents at higher weight classes. Perkins was 42 years old and 5-0 before taking a pretty brutal beating at the hands of “T-Rex.”
Now her next battle may be with a commission as a drug test has reportedly come back positive for marijuana. Late last night (Thu. Feb 13) it was reported that Shields had failed a pre-fight drug test. Soon after, controversial drug testing expert Victor Conte came out with a full defense of Shields.
IMORTANT NOTICE TO BOXING: @ClaressaShields did not test positive for a PED after her recent fight in Michigan. Claressa had not smoked marijuana, however, the commision did a mouth swab test after the fight. There seems to be a number of issues that exist with the Michigan…
— Victor Conte (@VictorConte) February 14, 2025
“IMORTANT NOTICE TO BOXING: Claressa Shields did not test positive for a PED after her recent fight in Michigan,” Conte wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Claressa had not smoked marijuana, however, the commission did a mouth swab test after the fight.”
Conte refused to say Shields ‘tested positive’ for marijuana and went on to rip apart the Michigan commission’s marijuana testing protocols.
“There seems to be a number of issues that exist with the Michigan testing procedure,” he continued. “Urine is the normal sample used to test for marijuana. Most credible anti-doping entities do not consider marijuana to be a PED. VADA found no PEDs in Claressa’s blood and urine samples. The Nevada commission, the UFC and other commissions do not consider marijuana a PED. The amount found in her mouth swab was 3.4 ng/ml or parts per billion. This is an ultra-trace amount that likely would have come from second-hand smoke in the arena.”
It’s really angering that this man is playing with my reputation. I’ve been a clean athlete all my life, to ever put my name and PEDS with positive and my name in the sentence is damaging. He knows that. He’s going to get sued and I’d like a public apology
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) February 14, 2025
“There were also other irregularities that occurred in the testing procedure,” Conte concluded. “The world of boxing needs to clearly understand that Claressa is a clean boxer and always has been. More information about this rather unusual case will become available soon.”
Shields added her own comments, declaring “NICE TRY HATERS! DON’T Ever try and put no bulls—t on me. CLEAN ATHLETES WIN.”
“When the hate don’t work they start telling lies,” she added. Shields even went so far as to suggest she’d sue the reporter who announced the drug test failure because they said she tested positive for a PED and marijuana isn’t a PED.
It’s an unfortunate blemish that “The GWOAT” will have to fight to clear from her record. With Conte in her corner aggressively pushing back against this positive test, she’s already come out swinging.