Claressa Shields still isn't over her first fight with Hanna Gabriels.
Shields and Gabriels met in the ring back in 2018, when the 'GWOAT' was knocked down in the first round but came back to win by unanimous decision. The knockdown was the first, and so far only, of Shields' career, and the 28-year-old admits that it was an upsetting moment in an otherwise positive match.
“The knockdown p—d me off because it was a flash knockdown," Shields said on Wednesday.
"After the fight I was very upset and very frustrated and I said ‘I want to fight her some more.’ I wanted to do the rematch immediately."
While Shields (13-0-0, 2 KOs) didn't get her immediate rematch, the Flint, Michigan native went on to become the only two-division undisputed champion in the four-belt era with memorable wins over Marie-Eve Dicaire, Hannah Rankin, Savannah Marshall and more. And on June 3 she'll finally get another shot at Gabriels (21-2-1, 12 KOs) when the duo clash at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, broadcast live on DAZN (U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand only).
“I’m fighting here in Detroit in front of all my family and all my friends," Shields said.
"Hanna Gabriels is in a real heap of trouble come June 3. Y’all want to be there because this is the fight that will solidify what I’ve been saying, that there’s no girl in this world who can get in the ring with me and take me. I’m a problem."
As for how she expects the fight to go, Shields is letting her disappointment with how the first bout with Gabriels went guide her intent this time around.
“I beat her unanimously after being knocked down and this time I don’t want a unanimous decision. I want the knockout," she said.
"She’s able to get knocked out, it’s happened to her before. I’m able to get knocked down. It happened to me before, but I got back up and won."