By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Claressa Shields of Flint, Michigan defends her undisputed World Women’s Middleweight Championship against Maticela Cornejo of Prosser, Washington in nearby Detroit this Saturday, June 3rd. The 10-round bout can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Shields was originally scheduled to meet Hannah Gabriels in a rematch of their 2018 fight but she was yanked from the contest after testing positive for a banned substance. Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and three-weight world champion, last fought in October when she beat Savannah Marshall via a 10-round unanimous decision to take Marshall’s WBO Middleweight Belt. Cornejo last saw action in March when she stopped Sheila Cunha in just 44 seconds.
The 28-year-old Shields carries around a perfect record of 13-0 with 2 Ko’s to her name for a current knockout ratio of just 15.4 per cent. She’s boxed 111 rounds since making her pro debut in 2017 after reportedly going 77-1 as an amateur. Shields won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics as a middleweight and as a pro she holds the record for becoming a two and three-weight world champion in the fewest professional contests and is the only boxer in history to hold four major world titles (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) at the same time in two different weight classes.
As an amateur, she also won gold at the 2014 and 2016 World championships as well as the 2015 Pan American Games, where she took it as a light heavyweight. Since turning pro, she became the undisputed middleweight champion in 2019 by beating Christina Hammer and the undisputed light-middleweight champion two years later by beating Marie Eve Dicaire. From 2017 to 2018 she was also the unified IBF and WBC Super Middleweight Champion. Shields stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 68-inch reach.
The 36-year-old Cornejo fights out of Los Angeles and enters the ring with a mark of 16-5 with 6 Ko’s and has boxed 123 rounds since making her pro debut in 2012. She has pretty good power for the women’s division with six of her 16 wins coming by stoppage and a current knockout ratio of 28.6 per cent and also has a size advantage but has stopped just one opponent in her last seven outings. Cornejo measures 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 72-inch reach for a two-inch edge in height and a four-inch reach advantage.
Cornejo beat Latasha Burton by 10-round unanimous decision for the vacant WBC International Super Middleweight Title in 2015. However, she was beaten by Kali Reis via split decision in her next outing for the vacant WBC Middleweight Title and dropped a majority decision to Franchon Crews Dezurn for the same vacant belt in 2018. She had a rematch with Dezurn in 2019 for the WBC and vacant WBO Super Middleweight titles in 2019 and lost a unanimous decision. The other losses on Cornejo’s record came at the hands of Tiffany Ward by four-round unanimous decision in 2013 and to Alma Ibarra by eight-round unanimous decision in 2021.
Prediction…
Shields is smaller than Cornejo and has less power but is eight years younger with significantly superior boxing skills. Cornejo has fallen slightly short of the mark when fighting for world titles and that’s likely going to be the case again this Saturday, especially with her extra motivation of fighting at home.
