Claressa Shields Sets Aside Friendship in Goal of Dominating Her Sport

Even with a new opponent and short marketing runway, Shields’s promoter, Dmitriy Salita, views Detroit as one reason this fight could draw fans. Putting Shields, who grew up in Flint, Mich., atop a card at the new arena in Detroit also places her squarely within the city’s boxing tradition, he said.

“This is not a city where there is no boxing history. This is one of the richest boxing histories in the world,” Salita said. “The pressure that she’s under and the doors that she’s opening, every fight is a super fight for her.”

Sugar Ray Robinson spent his childhood in Detroit, and Joe Louis made the city his home base. In March 1980, three months after Joe Louis Arena opened, Hilmer Kenty, the first world champion from the famed Kronk Gym in Detroit, defended his lightweight title there. Kronk’s most famous product, Thomas Hearns, who was nicknamed the Hitman, fought in the cofeature on the same card.

Shields, 28, enters Saturday as one of boxing’s most dominant competitors of any gender. She rarely loses rounds, and has only lost two official fights in her life. As a 17-year-old amateur she dropped a disputed decision to Marshall in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics, and in October 2021 she lost a mixed martial arts bout to Abigail Montes in the Professional Fighters League.

But as a professional boxer, Shields has won world titles in three weight classes, and has been the undisputed champion at 154 and 160 pounds. She has defeated so many champions that she has begun seeking rematches with boxers she has outclassed.

Her 2018 bout against Gabriels ended in a lopsided decision win. Salita said that if Shields wins on Saturday she might face the winner of an upcoming bout between Marshall and Franchón Crews-Dezurn, both of whom Shields has already vanquished.