CLARESSA SHIELDS: THE GWOAT, OR NOT?

CLARESSA SHIELDS: THE GWOAT, OR NOT?

By Rachel Aylett

Claressa Shields is now only days away from the fight which will define her career more than any other to date.  The self-ordained Greatest Woman Of All Time will have to put it all on the line at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night. She will have to back up her boasting against Savannah Marshall, who will be her first opponent to be considered to have any chance of beating her since she turned professional in November 2016. What better time then to look more closely at her proclamation. Is she really the GWOAT?

As a professional, she is virtually untouched so far. Going 12-0, she has barely even lost a round, whilst amassing world titles in the super-middleweight, middleweight and super-welterweight divisions. The only slight stain on her record is the knockdown she suffered in the first round of a middleweight title fight against a far more experienced Hanna Gabriels. Indeed, other than Marshall, the volatile American has exhausted all other competition in these weight categories, with Christina Hammer, Marie-Eve Dicaire and Franchon Crews also falling easy prey to her. 

Does this make her the greatest though?  Let’s have a look at some others who could lay claim to this title – in no particular order.

1: Natascha Ragozina. 

This Russian fought in the same weight classes as Shields, going 22-0 over her five-year career, winning numerous alphabet belts and defending them over and over again before retiring in 2009. Unlike Claressa, Ragozina could also punch, amassing 13 stoppages along the way.

2: Holly Holm.

“The Preacher’s Daughter” had a cult following in Albuquerque, New Mexico throughout her boxing career, where she fought the vast majority of her contests.  Holm fought 38 times over an 11-year career, most of them at the top level where she won major belts at welterweight and super-lightweight. Of those 38 fights, she lost just 2 – one of them on a cut eye and the other to one of her biggest rivals, Anne-Sophie Mathis, which she later avenged. Not content with that, she of course then turned to MMA where she won the ultimate prize – the UFC bantamweight championship, over the iconic and seemingly unbeatable Ronda Rousey.

3: Lucia Rijker.

This feared Dutch lady made the opposite move to Holm, starting off as a kickboxer before turning to the boxing ring. Rijker threatened more than she actually achieved, but still, today holds the reputation of being one of the most fearsome fighters to have ever boxed. She went to 17-0 with 14 KOs, but quit the sport after being unable to secure a match with big rival Christy Martin.

4: Cecilia Breakhus.

Prior to the recent influx of ex-Olympians to the sport, this Colombian-Norwegian was considered the star of the female game. Going 36-0 before finally losing her mojo (twice) against Jessica McCaskill, she was the world welterweight champion, and untouchable, for 11 years, making 25 defences of her belts. Ridiculous!

5: Laila Ali.

The daughter of “The Greatest” has to be included on this list, if only due to the eyes she brought to the women’s game, simply by being Muhammad’s offspring.  But she could fight too. She ended her career in 2007 with a 24-0 record (21 KOs). Similar to Shields, Laila fought mostly in the super-middleweight division, but never found the suitable dance partner required to be in definitive fights.

Can Claressa Shields really say that she is greater than these above-mentioned boxers? There are plenty of other women who have also had great achievements in the sport but I haven’t the space to list them all. More importantly, is Shields even the greatest woman of her time? With equal claim to this particular title are Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. 

Taylor has become a massive star in the sport, winning a lightweight title in her seventh fight and, to date, still being unbeaten at 21-0. In amongst her numerous lightweight defences, she also moved up and won a belt at super-lightweight.  Perhaps more importantly, she has been involved in some of the most exciting female fights we have ever seen. Her two epic struggles against Delfine Persoon, the fight against Liverpudlian Natasha Jonas and, of course, the breathtaking fight with Serrano, which is one of the best fights of recent years, male or female.

This was not only the best, but by far the biggest women’s fight we have ever seen, headlining at Madison Square Garden. Both Taylor and Serrano came out of that with enormous credit – perhaps Serrano, as the naturally smaller woman, more so. The brilliant Puerto Rican has dominated weight classes from bantamweight up to super-lightweight, building a record of 43-2-1 with 30 KOs.  She came within a hairs-breadth of dethroning Taylor and put the Irish champion through hell before succumbing via split decision this past April.

Is Claressa Shields the GWOAT then? I think not. Not yet anyway. Something that she can argue in her favour is the fact that she won two Olympic Gold medals back to back, which none of her rivals can claim.  However, on the flip side, there is a strong argument that female champions in the lower weight classes have to face far stronger opposition. 

The optimum weight for female boxers is between lightweight and super-flyweight.  There are simply more active fighters at these weights, which means more competition and, as a consequence, more contenders. Whereas from welterweight upwards, you can barely find 10 women to make up a list of contenders. This has been underlined by good, but not great, fighters like Natasha Jonas and Terri Harper, both moving up from super-featherweight to super-welterweight and beating the incumbent champions to now sit atop the weight class.

So to Saturday, and a victory over her biggest, indeed, only rival will boost Shields’ resume a great deal. But even then, it is most certainly not a given that she will get that victory, as Savannah Marshall goes into their fight full of confidence, being the only fighter to ever hold a win over the American – in the amateurs of course.  That is now irrelevant, but there’s a lot on the line this Saturday!