FLINT, Mich. – Claressa Shields wanted to write history on several levels on Friday evening. The first part she handled before even stepping in the ring, headlining a pay-per-view card for all women.
She took care of the second part in the ring in a way that was similar to all her fights before. Shields defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision to become the first boxer in the four-band era (since 2004), male or female, to become an undisputed champion in two divisions. Shields retained her WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles while claiming Dicaire’s IBF crown and the vacant WBA world title.
“I did it,” said Shields in the ring after the fight, which marked the first time in 20 years that a women’s boxing match was the main event of a pay-per-view.
All three judges scored the fight 100-90, a clean thing for the hunter who calls himself the greatest of all time. Shields landed 116 of 409 punches and Dicaire landed 31 of 263. Shields landed double digit punches in seven out of 10 rounds.
After the fight, Shields (11-0, 2 KO) was asked if she would drop to 147 pounds 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 147,” Shields said, adding that she would do it for a million dollars. Shields then called Savannah Marshall, the only fighter to hit her as an amateur, and said Marshall is “afraid of me.”
Fighting in her hometown, Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was dominant against Dicaire (17-1). When she entered the ring, most of the more than 300 fans in the Dort Financial Center Arena stood with their camera phones off to record the event.
They stood for most of the match, getting louder in the sixth and seventh rounds as Shields started landing more powerful punches. One of the punches staggered Dicaire early in the sixth, generating cheers. After the fight, Shields said she had been elbowed and headbutted a few times.
After the fight was over, Shields held all belts in her arms and around her waist. She thanked the people in Flint, saying that as a child she “never in a million years” thought she would fight a pay-per-view card in her hometown.
Shields said she will take a week to celebrate her birthday and then start training in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for her MMA debut in June.