Comments Thread For: Claressa Shields makes weight for undisputed heavyweight title defense

[BoxingUpdates]

Shields came in at 174.6lbs, while her opponent, Lani Daniels, weighed 170.4lbs.
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[famicommander]

Made weight?

Heavyweight is unlimited, even for the women. If they both came in under 175 then this should be a 175 lineal title fight, not a heavyweight title defense for Shields.

[Brother Mouzone]

.................................

[famicommander]

.................................

If she wins this she'll have won the lineal crown at 154, 160, 168, 175, and heavyweight in 17 pro fights. I know the higher divisions of women's boxing aren't that deep, but that's still absurdly impressive. She has completely cleaned out the 5 heaviest divisions in the sport (there is no women's cruiserweight or bridgerweight).

[Brother Mouzone]

If she wins this she'll have won the lineal crown at 154, 160, 168, 175, and heavyweight in 17 pro fights. I know the higher divisions of women's boxing aren't that deep, but that's still absurdly impressive. She has completely cleaned out the 5 heaviest divisions in the sport (there is no women's cruiserweight or bridgerweight).

The bolded kind of makes the other points moot IMHO.

[famicommander]

The bolded kind of makes the other points moot IMHO.

If that were true someone else would already have accomplished the feat. Fewer good fighters doesn't mean zero.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

Just curious , is there a weight limit on the upper end in womens Heavyweight boxing ?

[NihonJim]

If that were true someone else would already have accomplished the feat. Fewer good fighters doesn't mean zero.

Boxrec has 38 female ranked heavyweight fighters.

38 fighters EXIST in the division shields is champion in

38

[famicommander]

Boxrec has 38 female ranked heavyweight fighters.

38 fighters EXIST in the division shields is champion in

38

BoxRec only counts fighters that have been active in the last year and only in the most recent division they fought in. Shields is only listed at heavyweight but this fight is at light heavyweight. There are several fighters who can and do fight at light heavyweight, but they're listed at super middleweight or heavyweight right now because that's where they most recently fought. There have been years in which some top female fighters have fought in three separate divisions in the same calendar year but they're only ever ranked in one division at a time. And there are several more fighters who are actively training in the gym and simply haven't taken a fight recently enough to be listed on BoxRec.

Yes, the upper weight classes in women's boxing are shallow. But just counting up the number of fighters BoxRec has active is not an accurate gauge of the talent pool in those divisions.

My point remains: if the shallow pool made this a trivial accomplishment, someone else would already have done it. There have been great women above 154 before and none of them came close to accomplishing this. Ann Wolfe, Christy Martin, Laila Ali -- legitimate Hall of Famers who didn't accomplish a small fraction of what Shields has done in far fewer fights.

[Brother Mouzone]

If that were true someone else would already have accomplished the feat. Fewer good fighters doesn't mean zero.

This is a great point , but still does not move the needle for me. The competition is still weak AF , it counts who you do it against at least for me ......