After Katie Taylor's defeat to Chantelle Cameron in May, there could no longer be any doubt that Claressa Shields is the pound-for-pound best in women's boxing.
Taylor's dominance at lightweight ended when the veteran incurred her first defeat, while the American remains unbeaten in professional boxing.
Along the course of her career, Shields has featured in amateur competitions, the Olympics, as well as professional boxing. That's not all, as she has also moved into MMA in pursuit of building a legacy across disciplines.
Born in Flint, Michigan, Shields found boxing through her father, Bo Shields, an amateur in his own right. She started her training aged 11 at Berston Field House, also in Flint, meeting her coach and trainer, Jason Crutchfield.
DAZN News takes a look at her achievements so far.
Claressa Shields record and bio
- Nationality: American
- Date of birth: March 17, 1995
- Height: 5' 8"
- Reach: 68"
- Total fights: 13-0
- Record: 13-0 (2 KOs)
Championships
- Shields won the 2012 Olympic Gold in London, and then again in Rio, Brazil in 2016. Both medals came at middleweight.
- In the 2014 World Championships, in Jeju, South Korea, and then Astana in Kazakhstan two years later, again at middleweight, she won gold.
- At the 2015 Pan American games, she landed another gold at light heavyweight.
- In 2017, she collected the NABF middleweight, WBC Silver super middleweight, WBC and IBF super middleweight titles.
- In 2018 she took the WBAN lineal super middleweight title, the WBA and IBF female middleweight titles, and the WBC middleweight title.
- The following year she won the WBO and The Ring middleweight straps.
- 2020 saw her collect the WBC and WBO light middleweight titles.
- In 2021 Shields landed the IBF, WBA (Super) and The Ring light middleweight belts.
- And in 2022 she won the WBF middleweight title and WBO middleweight title.
Those achievements have seen Shields become world champion in three weight classes, and she is the undisputed light middleweight champion since March 2021. Shields was also unified at middleweight, where she was undisputed between 2019 and 2020. She has been unified super middleweight champion between 2017 and 2018.
Biggest wins
There are two key events in Shields' later career.
April 13, 2019 - Shields vs. Hammer
Shields became the undisputed middleweight champion, when she defeated Christina Hammer by unanimous decision, scored 98-91, 98-91, 98-92.
October 15, 2022 - Shields vs. Marshall
The American was due to face WBO middleweight champion Savannah Marshall in a unification clash on September 10, but the fight was delayed by a month after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Shields and Marshall went the distance but it was Shields who emerged victorious, 97-93, 97-93, 96-94. The result left Shields as unified at the weight.
MMA fights and record
Not content with testing herself against the best that boxing has to offer, Shields signed a three year deal with the Professional Fighters League, and made her debut on June 10, 2021 against Brittney Elkin. She won by technical knockout in the third round.
A delayed second fight took place on October 27, 2021, against Abigail Montes, but Shields lost by split decision.