By Keith Idec
Claressa Shields revealed Monday that her long-awaited middleweight title fight against Christina Hammer has been postponed.
The Shields-Hammer fight was announced last week for November 17 at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Theater in Atlantic City. Shields stated in a series of Tweets, however, that Hammer has come down with an undisclosed illness that’ll keep her from fighting until March.
Shields also stated that she still plans to fight November 17 against another opponent.
“Very, very, very disappointed,” Shields Tweeted. “I’ll let my team do the announcement! But what I will say is … I want this fight 100%. I am not the one sick. [I don’t know] the ins and outs of Hammer’s condition, but she can’t box [till] March the doctor says. I’m still going to fight the 17th of [November].”
The 23-year-old Shields (6-0, 2 KOs), a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Flint, Michigan, and the 28-year-old Hammer (23-0, 10 KOs, 1 NC), of Dortmund, Germany, were supposed to fight for Shields IBF and WBA 160-pound championships and Hammer’s WBC and WBO titles.
The winner would’ve joined ex-middleweight champions Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, former 140-pound champion Terence Crawford, cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk and women’s welterweight champ Cecilia Braekhus as the only boxers to own the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles at the same time.
“I’m sorry to hit y’all with the bad news,” Shields added through her Twitter account. “[There] should be some kind of press release announcing what’s going on. I’m just putting out the information that I know. But umm yeah … I’m just going to stay focused and in the gym. Love and peace.”
Shields then reiterated her disappointment.
“I really just need an entire day of sleep to make me feel better,” Shields Tweeted. “I’m so damn mad right now. Like I wanna punch a hole thru a brick wall.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
