Shields mows down Joanisse in 2nd round, wins title in 4th division
The No. 1 female boxer in the world scores three knockdowns in rare knockout victory to claim pair of 175-pound belts
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As supreme of a boxer as Claressa Shields is — and most view her as the No. 1 pound-for-pound female fighter in the world — the one rap has been her distinct lack of punching power.
She had not scored a knockout since stopping Nikki Adler in the fifth round of her fourth pro fight in 2017 and she has rarely even scored knockdowns.
But she changed that stat in overwhelming fashion by destroying the massively overmatched Vanessa Joanisse, dropping her three times in a one-sided second-round knockout on Saturday night before a home region crowd in the main event of a Salita Promotions “Big Time Boxing USA” card on DAZN at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
With the victory, Shields, who is the reigning undisputed middleweight champion but moved up two weight classes to face Joanisse, took her WBC heavyweight title and won the vacant WBO light heavyweight title, which are both 175-pound belts except the WBC calls its women’s division at that weight heavyweight.
Whatever the divisions are called, Shields (15-0, 3 KOs), 29, of Flint, Michigan, won a world title in her fourth weight class, having also been an undisputed junior middleweight champion and unified super middleweight champion to go with her two stints as undisputed middleweight champion.
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