Claressa Shields had it all her way again in her return to boxing, owning the ring for another 10 rounds against Ema Kozin, retaining her WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight titles in a shutout decision.
All three judges had the fight 100-90 for Shields (12-0, 2 KO), who once again failed to deliver the once again promised knockout, but as always turned in a totally dominant performance where her opponent couldn’t do much with her.
Shields, 26, hadn’t boxed in 11 months, and hadn’t fought at middleweight since 2019, moving down to 154 lbs for two fights, where she fully unified that division as she’d done at middleweight prior.
“What we wanted to do was calm down, break her down to the body. I thought there was plenty of moments where the ref should have stopped it,” Shields said after the fight. “She’s gonna feel it when she goes home, and I won every single round. That’s good for me, and it was better than my last performance against Dicaire. I give myself an A-minus; only thing I didn’t do was get the damn knockout.”
Asked if she felt the KO was coming from body work, Shields said, “I know rounds six, seven, even five I was breaking her down. She was in the corner, taking shots without responding. I thought maybe her corner would throw in the towel or the ref would have stopped it, but they didn’t and she took a beating for 10 rounds.”
“The girl I want is Savannah Marshall. That’s why I’m here, she knows that’s why I’m here. I’ve done my job, and her job is March 12, and I’ll see her back here,” Shields said about the most-wanted fight.
Marshall then came into the interview, with promoter Ben Shalom saying they’re “hoping for June” for the bout.
“I think if you perform like that against me, I’ll absolutely wipe the floor with you,” Marshall said to Shields.
“You couldn’t wipe my drawers, you hear me? You can’t do shit with me,” Shields said, then stood up to go face-to-face with Marshall. “You didn’t come to America, I came here! Win March 12 and I’ll wipe the floor with you! You can’t do shit with me!”
“You went 10 rounds with an absolute child!” Marshall replied. “People were walking out after round five!”
Marshall promised she’d stop Shields, and the two continued shouting until it was time to stop promoting the inevitable fight.