Shields drops weight to regain title

Claressa Shields completed a remarkable journey from heavyweight to middleweight in Georgia on Sunday.

Shields stopped Australia’s Kaye Scott in the sixth round to capture the WBA and WBC titles.

The five-division world champion and double Olympic gold medallist dominated her outclassed opponent from the opening bell at State Farm Arena in Atlanta before dropping Scott in the sixth and overwhelming her against the ropes after the action resumed. With Scott unable to defend herself from another sustained barrage, the 42-year-old champion’s corner threw in the towel.

The victory improved Shields’s professional record to 19-0 with four knockouts while Scott fell to 5-2-1. It also returned the 31-year-old American to championship status at 160lb, a division she had previously ruled as undisputed champion before moving through light-heavyweight and into the heavyweight ranks.

Shields, who remains the undisputed heavyweight champion, had not fought at middleweight since defeating Maricela Cornejo in June 2023. The anticipated effects of that dramatic weight loss never materialised against Scott, a decorated amateur who entered the paid ranks at 39 as she approached the IBA’s upper age limit, yet remained a significant underdog in only her eighth professional bout.

“It was a hard camp,” Shields said. “I always tell myself that everything is easy work, but it was a really hard camp. I cut 38 pounds. I started 14 weeks ago at 198 and then I got down to 160. It was the most disciplined I’ve been since the Olympics, I feel like.”

Shields named fellow Olympic champion Lauren Price of Britain as her preferred next opponent at 160lb and said she hoped the fight could be staged in December or January. She also raised the possibility of facing Mikaela Mayer or pursuing undisputed status at middleweight against Canada’s Tammara Thibeault, who won the IBF, WBO and Ring titles in her fifth professional fight last weekend in Orlando.