Boxing News — January 11, 2018

FEARSOME:

Shields tears into Adler

last time out in August

Nelson’s mileage, nous and durability,
which is something Shields’ previous four
opponents have found deserts them once
they step into the ring
with the 2012 and 2016
Olympic champion.
The reality, of course,
is often too much for
Shields’ victims. They
tell themselves she’s a
22-year-old neophyte,
albeit one who scaled the
heights as an amateur,
but soon discover
she is also a bit of a
phenomenon – a spiteful,
hard-hitting one at that. Indeed, since
turning professional in November 2016
with a thrilling four-round decision win
over fellow debutant Franchon Crews,
the native of Flint, Michigan has been
unforgiving in her approach and boasts
stoppages of Sylvia Szabados and Nikki
Adler, the latter, done and dusted in
round five, delivering her the WBC and
IBF titles she currently holds.
Adler, like ex-WBC 160lb champ
Nelson, was undefeated and full of hope.
She was accustomed to winning and
defending titles. She, too, had travelled
through weight classes and been the
distance many times over. Yet, on the
night they met in August, Shields’ sheer
physicality and aggression, as well as
technical ability, proved far too much

for the 30-year-old German, and it was

Shields, not Adler, who left the MGM

Grand Detroit with two belts.

The concern is

that Nelson, the next

opponent charged

with the almost

insurmountable task of

stopping the Claressa

Shields charge, suffers the

same fate. She’s rugged

in a way Adler wasn’t,

admittedly, and might

stand up to more, but

she’s also 41 years of age,

easy to hit and by far the

smaller fighter. As for what she brings

stylistically, the Virginian boxes with a

focused look on her face, doing so out

of a crouch, and stabs her jab hard at

her opponent while continually looking

for a big right hand over the top. There’s

not much variety beyond that, yet rarely

does she need more than that. She’s

composed, robust, deceptively quick with

her hands, and possesses a ruthless streak

many of her rivals lack.

Unfortunately for Nelson, though,

Shields seems special. If unsure of this,

look at the closing stages of her fight

with Adler. Hands down, utterly relaxed

in the heat of battle, she proceeded to

tee off on an opponent who was, in

that moment, everything Shields wasn’t:

pensive, uncertain and hurt. The finish

was a reminder that Shields, an imposing

figure, is both fearsome and fearless, and,

although conceding experience, has so

far been a cut above all with whom she

has shared a ring.

Which is why it’s hard to imagine

Nelson, for all her wisdom and for all the

rounds she has banked over the years,

knowing enough or, more accurately,

being good enough to test, let alone

stop a champion who appears to know

something all these other girls don’t.

Shields, in summary, isn’t just special.

She’s different. Different to all that came

before her. Different in a way that, for the

rest, is presumably quite scary.

THE VERDICT Shields via stoppage

around the seventh.

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net JANUARY 11, 2018 lBOXING NEWSl 33

TALE OF THE TAPE

CLARESSA SHIELDS TORI NELSON

@Claressashields @ToriShoNuff

Mar 17, 1995/22 DOB/AGE Aug 26, 1976/41

Flint, MI HOMETOWN Ashburn, VA

American NATIONALITY American

5ft 8ins HEIGHT 5ft 6 1/2ins

4-0 (2) RECORD 1 7-0-3 (2)

Orthodox STANCE Orthodox

Nov 19, 2016/21 DEBUT/AGE May 8, 2010/33

50 KO PERCENTAGE 10

1 SCHEDULED 10-ROUNDERS 14

3 FIGHTS IN 2017 1

THEY SOON

DISCOVER SHE

IS A BIT OF A

PHENOMENON

• A SPITEFUL

ONE AT THAT