Notebook: Shields takes aim at winning title in fourth division
Bohachuk-Ortiz undercard set; Opetaia calls out Billam-Smith to unify cruiserweight titles; Title Sports show; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Thirteen months have passed since Claressa Shields, widely viewed as the No. 1 female boxer in the world, has been in the ring but she is back and ready for a new challenge.
The undisputed middleweight champion took a break from boxing for the past year but not from training and fighting. In February, Shields moved to 2-1 in her MMA career when she outpointed Kelsey De Santis in a Professional Fighters League bout that was the first female MMA fight to take place in Saudi Arabia.
While one of Shields’ goal is to become the first athlete, male or female, to be a champion in boxing and MMA, boxing is her bread and butter and she is aiming for yet another accomplishment in her decorated career to go along with being a two-time undisputed middleweight champion, the undisputed junior middleweight champion and a unified super middleweight champion, not to mention a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Shields will challenge Vanessa Joanisse for her WBC heavyweight title and the vacant WBO light heavyweight belt in the main event of Salita Promotions’ “Big Time Boxing USA” card on Saturday (DAZN, 9 p.m.) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit as she moves up two divisions to 175 pounds in an attempt to win a world title in a fourth division. (The WBC calls the 175-pound women’s division heavyweight, which is light heavyweight to all of the other organizations for men and women.)
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“I’ve fought as low as 154 pounds. Vanessa has fought as big as 231 pounds. I’m not taking her lightly at all,” Shields said. “I have a lot of respect for her.”
But then Shields (14-0, 2 KOs), 29, of Flint, Michigan, took some aim at Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs), 29 of Quebec, Canada, who won the vacant WBC belt in her last fight via split decision against Abril Argentina Vidal on March 7 in Montreal and is making her first defense.
“I’ve never had the pleasure of padding my record (against losing opponents) in my career,” Shields said. “I’m the best female fighter in the world because I have beaten the best. In three different weight classes, I beat the best and I’m going for a fourth weight class.
“I’ve been saying for years I can fill up stadiums like Little Caesars or Madison Square Garden. They never gave me the opportunity. Now I’ve had the opportunity once (for her last fight against Maricela Cornejo, also at Little Caesars Arena) and on (Saturday) there will be 19,000 people and it’s going to be a great fight.”
The experience level Shields has over Joanisse is vast as well having faced far superior competition, which Shields beat handily. Joanisse has been fighting bigger opponents but Shields has not been impressed with what she has seen.
“Vanessa did not train hard enough for this fight,: Shields said. “I saw her hitting the pads (earlier this week) at the media workout, trying to impress me. I was not impressed. I sparred against bears for this camp. She’s sparring with girls I beat up already. I’m happy she’s here. I hope she hits like a heavyweight because if she’s not punching like a heavyweight, she’s going to sleep.
“She says she doesn’t trash talk. I trash talk and back it up. I will be heavyweight champion Saturday, and nobody will stand in my way. Her size means nothing to me. I’m coming from 160 pounds, but I will be the bear Saturday night. She rubs me the wrong way. When I take her belt from her, she’s going back to Canada with nothing. She’s going home with a paycheck and beltless. That’s it.”
Shields boasting about the prospect of a knockout doesn’t match with her results so far. Although she has typically easily outboxed opponents she has rarely scored knockouts or knockdowns. But she said the added weight is what gives her confidence that Saturday will be different.
“People talk about how I don’t have knockout power, but I have to kill myself to make weight too,” Shields said. “Now that I don’t, I think I will be putting all that talk to rest. She’s coming big, strong and fast, but I’m coming big, strong and fast too.
“Pray for Vanessa because she’s going down Saturday night. If you’re not here you’ll be missing greatness.”
Joanisse said she did not hesitate to the take fight when it was offered and is not about to let Shields take what she has.
“I said let’s go! I want the popularity Claressa has,” Joanisse said. “She’s the face of women’s boxing and I want this fight. She has what I want. When I won my belt, it was a dream come true. But now I want to take it further by beating Claressa Shields here in Detroit.
“I respect Claressa Shields and I know what’s she accomplished, but a fight is a fight. I’ll be ready and I’m coming home with the belt in my suitcase. It’s going to be a fight, but I’m going to win it.”
Bohachuk-Ortiz undercard
Golden Boy on Friday unveiled the undercard for Serhii Bohachuk’s first WBC interim junior middleweight title defense against Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Aug. 10 (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Aug. 10.
In the co-feature, junior middleweight Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs), 26, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Cleveland, who signed with Golden Boy and ended a 17-month layoff on April 20 with a sixth-round knockout of Nathaniel Gallimore, will face Khiary Gray (18-6, 13 KOs), 31, of Worcester, Massachusetts, in a 10-rounder. Gray has won two fights in a row since an eight-round decision loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev in July 2021. Murtazaliev went on to win the vacant IBF junior middleweight title in April.
Also on the card, junior welterweight contender Kenneth Sims Jr. (20-2-1, 7 KOs), 30, of Chicago, who parted ways with PBC and signed with Golden Boy in May, will end a one-year layoff in a 10-rounder against Jesus “Ricky” Perez (25-5, 18 KOs), 25, of Mexico, who upset Joseph Diaz Jr. via 10-round decision in his last fight in February.
Prior to that bout will be a previously announced fight: IBF women’s flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora (13-0, 6 KOs), 22, a southpaw from Coachella, California, making her second defense against Daniela Asenjo (16-3-3, 2 KOs), 33, of Chile.
In the DAZN opener, welterweight prospect and former amateur standout Joel Iriarte (3-0, 3 KOs), 21, of Bakersfield, California, will box in a six-rounder.
The top fight on the preliminary part of the card will feature the return of former longtime pound-for-pound No. 1 woman and undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus (37-2-1, 9 KOs), 42, of Norway, who will challenge Ema Kozin (24-1-1,12 KOs), 25, of Slovenia, for her WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles.
Braekhus is coming off a majority draw with Terri Harper, who she challenged for her WBA junior middleweight title and the vacant WBC belt in October 2023 in England. Kozin will make her first defense after she outpointed Hannah Rankin in November to win the vacant belts.
Opetaia calls out Billam-Smith
Lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia wants to unify belts and called out WBO titlist Chris Billam-Smith this week.
Opetaia went so far as to say he would give Billam-Smith $250,000 of his own money in an effort to make the fight and take a smaller purse than him.
“He’s fucking ducking me,” Opetaia said. “He wants nothing to do with me or this fight. This is a career-high payday for him, and he clearly doesn’t want it. He’s holding my title. Enjoy it while you can.”
Michael Francis, Opetaia's manager, said he was disappointed not hear anything back from Billam-Smith’s team since he said he extended the offer to promoter Ben Shalom of Boxxer.
“Jai wants to get this fight made more than anything else,” Francis said. “But we've heard nothing but crickets since the offer went through. It seems like Billam-Smith might be looking to go to America to fight instead. Ben Shalom’s boxers have a history of ducking Jai, so we’re not surprised. Jai wants to fight the best there is, and Chris is making excuses about wanting to box in America instead. This narrative started in the post-fight interview after he beat Richard Riakporhe and it hasn’t stopped.”
Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs), 29, a southpaw from Australia, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Mairis Briedis on May 18 on the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as he retained the lineal title and regained the vacant IBF belt, which he took from Briedis along with the lineal title in their first fight in July 2022.
Billam-Smith (20-1, 13 KOs), 33, of England, outpointed Lawrence Okolie for the WBO belt in May 2023 and has made two defenses, an eighth-round knockout of Mateusz Masternak in December and a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Richard Riakporhe in June to avenge his only loss, a split decision in 2019.
Title Sports Network show
In our latest show on Title Sports Network, I joined Seb Parkinson to discuss two main topics. We previewed Saturday’s Joe Joyce-Derek Chisora heavyweight fight and the undercard, and then we looked ahead to the biggest fight of next Saturday — return of Terence Crawford, who is moving up to junior middleweight to challenge Israil Madrimov for his world title. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel and also check out the video here:
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked three Saturday fights: Vanessa Joanisse versus Claressa Shields for Joanisse’s WBC women’s 175-pound title and the vacant WBO belt and the junior welterweight co-feature between Michel Rivera and Hugo Alberto Roldan, and the all-British heavyweight fight between Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from London for the Queensberry Promotions card Saturday (ESPN+ in U.S., 3:30 p.m. ET; TNT Sports in U.K.): Joe Joyce 281.2 pounds, Derek Chisora 256.7; Ryan Garner 129.4, Archie Sharp 129.1; Moses Itauma 239.8, Mariusz Wach 287.4 (note: the first three listed bouts comprise the ESPN+ show); Dennis McCann 121.7, Ionut Baluta 121.8 (for vacant European junior featherweight title) Royston Barney-Smith 129.4, Brian Barajas 128.5; Sean Noakes 146.8, Inder Bassi 145.7; Raven Chapman 125.8, Yohana Sarabia 123.8; Aadam Hamed 139.7, Georgi Velichkov 139.9; Brandun Lee 143.5, Juan Anacona 142.4; Umar Khan 127, Kaddour Hmiani 125.6; Jermaine Dhliwayo 134, Engel Gomez 135.6.
Weights from Detroit for Saturday’s Salita Promotions card (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET): Vanessa Joanisse 174.6 pounds, Claressa Shields 174.6 (for Joanisse’s WBC women’s heavyweight/vacant WBO light heavyweight title); Michel Rivera 139.2, Hugo Alberto Roldan 140; Shohjahon Ergashev 142, Julian Smith 141.6; Cameran Pankey 123.4, Shaileik Paisley 120; Gordie Russ II 153.4, Josiah Shackelford 155.2; Husam Al Mashhadi 155.6, Bruno Leonardo Romay 156.8; Ernesto Mercado 141.6, Hector Edgardo Sarmiento 138.8; Jaquan McElroy 158.2, Travis Floyd 153.6; Samantha Worthington 139.4, Edina Kiss 140; Danielle Perkins 175.4, Christianne Fahey 173.4.
Australian heavyweight up-and-comer Justis Huni (10-0, 5 KOs), 25, stopped countryman Troy Pilcher (9-1-1, 7 KOs), 29, in the second round on Thursday on a Tasman Fighters card on DAZN at Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia. Huni hurt Pilcher with a left hook in the second round and followed up with a barrage of shots that forced referee Paul Tapley to stop it at 2 minutes, 26 seconds. Huni, who is co-promoted by Matchroom Boxing, expressed interest in facing the Matchroom prospect Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). “I’ll even travel to England if necessary,” said Huni, who was coming off a 10-round decision over Kevin Lerena on Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou card on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Show and tell
Roy Jones Jr. was the pound-for-pound king and in the midst of his fantastic run as undisputed light heavyweight champion when he defended against undefeated contender Julio Gonzalez at Staples Center in Los Angeles on an HBO PPV card that Top Rank promoted. Top Rank put then-featherweight titlist Erik Morales in the co-feature against Korean challenger Injin Chi. As expected, Jones rolled to a one-sided decision over the game Gonzalez, who just could not deal with Jones’ speed. Morales and Chi went to war in a dramatically underrated slugfest that Morales won by unanimous decision.
I went to Los Angeles to cover the show for USA Today and came home with one of my all-time favorite posters in my vast collection. I love it because it’s so unusual. Top Rank did a version of the poster featuring Chi in the champion’s position next to Morales on the top of the poster in the main event spot with Jones-Gonzalez getting second billing. The poster is also in Korean. Why? It was used specifically to market Chi’s appearance on the show in Los Angeles’ Korean neighborhoods. Here is that thin cardboard poster for the card, which took place on July 28, 2001 — 23 years ago on Sunday — in my collection. By the way, the Derrick Gainer-Juan Manuel Marquez bout advertised on the poster didn’t happen but the first welterweight title fight between Ricardo Mayorga and Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis did. Also on the PPV was a young Miguel Cotto winning his sixth pro fight.
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Photos: Joanisse-Shields: Adam J. Dewey/Salita Promotions; Opetaia and Joyce-Chisora/Queensberry Promotions
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Gonzalez musta learned something from Jones because he would lose but go on to hand Dariusz Michalczewski his first loss, which I think Dan discussed on episode of the pod
“I’ve never had the pleasure of padding my record ...."
Nearly half her title fights have had vacant belts up for grabs because woman's boxing is void of talent at the heavier weights. The sanctioning orgs throw belts at her because it's the only way to get sanctioning fees and get a champion crowned on tv.