CLARESSA SHIELDS IS bidding to become the fastest boxer in history — male or female — to win three world titles in three weight classes.
The 24-year-old American faces Ivan Habazin on 17 August, currently holding the belts at super-middleweight and middleweight.
If Shields wins the vacant WBO super-lightweight title in her 10th fight, she’ll write a new piece of history, eclipsing Ukranian Vasyl Lomachenko who became a three-weight world champion in his 12th bout.
It’s a “big step forward lifting women’s boxing on the road to equality,”, the two-time Olympic gold medallist said.
Shields [9,0, 2KO] triumphed at the 2012 and 2016 Games at middleweight, and holds all four middleweight titles in her professional career.
The undisputed world champion in that division now drops down the weight to face Croatian 29-year-old Habazin for her next task in her home city of Flint, Michigan.
She fights there as a professional for the first time.
“It’s hard to even put into words how excited I am to be returning home as undisputed champion and fighting in front of all my fans in Flint,” said Shields in a news release, as quoted by the Detroit Free Press.
“And having the opportunity to become world champion in a third weight division faster than any man or woman in boxing history will make August 17 a night I will cherish forever. It’s another big step forward in lifting women’s boxing on the road to equality.”
Last November, the US star said she sees herself and Ireland’s lightweight undisputed world champion Katie Taylor as neck-and-neck atop the pound-for-pound rankings.
Shields recently spoke to The42 for an in-depth read, and you can find that here.
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