Super middleweight female champion Claressa Shields completely outclassed her undefeated and gritty opponent, Tori Nelson, on Friday night to retain her WBC and IBF title belts at Turning Stone Hotel and Casino in Verona, N.Y. Shields was the headliner on Showtime's fight card.
Shields, 22, the only two-time Olympic boxing gold medalist from the U.S., male or female, won all 10 rounds on each of the three judges' scorecards.
Nelson 17-0-3 (2 KOs), took a lot of punishment throughout the fight, but Shields was unable to put the 41-year-old from Ashburn, Va., down, despite landing 144 more punches overall than her opponent. Shields connected on 186 of 425 power punches, while Nelson, who came in with a reputation of being an aggressive fighter, landed just 70 of 348 (20%).
Shields (5-0, 2 KOs) went strong to the body as well, landing 63 body shots to 21 for Nelson.
"I landed every shot that I could possibly land," Shields, from Flint, Mich., said afterwards. "She was just tough. You know, 17-0, two knockouts. She wasn't a pushover. And a lot of times when I did see shots open and I went for them, I got head-butted so I stopped going in because I didn't want to get head-butted. But she was definitely tough and fought a good fight."
Shields plans on going down to 160 pounds in the near future, possibly next, to fight undefeated middleweight champion Christina Hammer of Germany, who was ringside for the fight.
"I think she's scared to fight me, to be honest," Shields said. "She was supposed to fight on the undercard today and she didn't want me to see her. She's more worried about me than I am of her.
"I'm going to kick Hammer's ass. They think she's a better fighter than me and I can't wait to show her she isn't."
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