FLINT, Mich. – Claressa Shields wanted to make history on several levels on Friday night. The first part he managed before stepping right into the ring, displaying a viewing card exclusively for women.
The second part took care of her in the ring in a similar way to all her previous fights. Shields defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision to become the first boxer of the four-belt era (since 2004), male or female, to be the undisputed champion in two divisions. Shields kept his WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles, while claiming Dicaire’s IBF crown and vacant WBA world title.
“I did it,” said Shields in the ring after the fight, which for the first time in 20 years marked a women’s boxing match was the main event of a pay-per-view.
All three judges scored the 100-90 fight, a clean fight for the fighter who is called the greatest of all time. Shields landed 116 of 409 punches, and Dicaire landed 31 of 263. Shields landed double-digit punches in seven of the 10 rounds.
After the fight, Shields (11-0, 2 KOs) was asked if he would drop to £ 147 to fight Katie Taylor. Shields laughed and complimented Taylor as a fighter.
“They had to pay me a lot of money to lose my ass to go down to 147,” Shields said, adding that he would do it for a million dollars. Shields then called Savannah Marshall, the only fighter who beat her as an amateur, and said Marshall was “scared of me.”
Fighting in his hometown, Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, dominated throughout Dicaire (17-1). When he entered the ring, most of the more than 300 fans at Dort Financial Center Arena sat with their camera phones to record the event.
They remained for most of the fight, becoming stronger in the sixth and seventh rounds, when Shields began to land more power shots. One of the fists shook Dicaire at the beginning of the sixth, drawing cheers. After the fight, Shields said he was elbow and nodded several times.
After the fight, Shields held all the belts in his arms and waist. She thanked the people of Flint and said that when she was little, “never in a million years” did she think she would struggle with a pay-per-view card in her hometown.
Shields said it would take a week to celebrate his birthday and then begin training in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for his MMA debut in June.