If there were any doubt about Claressa Shields not boxing in 11 months, those questions were quickly erased Saturday.
Shields dominated Ema Kozin from start to finish to win via unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 100-90) to retain her IBF, WBA, and WBC women's middleweight titles at Motorpoint Arena Cardiff in Cardiff, Wales.
“What we wanted to do was calm down, break her down to the body," Shields said in her post-fight interview. "I thought there was plenty of moments where the ref should have stopped it. She’s gonna feel it when she goes home, and I won every single round. That’s good for me, and it was better than my last performance against (Marie-Eve) Dicaire. I give myself an A-minus; only thing I didn’t do was get the damn knockout.”
The drama didn't come inside the ring for the two-time Olympic gold medalist. Instead, it came when Shields had a heated confrontation with Savannah Marshall. The two are scheduled to meet later in 2022 if Marshall, the WBO titlist, beats Femke Hermans on March 12. During Shields' bout, Marshall could be seen yawning, indicating she was bored by the action. However, once they got up close and personal, Shields and Marshall started verbally going after one another.
“If you perform like that against me, I will absolutely wipe the floor with you,” Marshall said to Shields.
“You can’t wipe my drawers. You can’t do s—t with me,” Shields fired back. “I ain’t no punk. I'm not scared of you. That’s why I am here. You didn’t come to America. I came here. Win March 12, I will wipe the floor with you.”
“You went 12 rounds with an absolute child," Marshall retorted. "People were walking out after round five. Pillow fists. I’ll stop you.”
“I’m going to give you hell. Where are your gold medals at?," Shields responded before both were separated.
Marshall is the only person to beat Shields in the amateur or professional ranks. That happened at the World Championships in 2012.