UNDERCARD
ALSO in action on this Showtime-televised Salita Promotions bill is a possible future Shields foe – WBC and WBO 160lb queen CHRISTINA HAMMER, 22-0 (10) 1NC. The Kazakh-german faces South Carolina’s LISA NOEL GARLAND, 15-9 (8), over 10-twos.
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.
THEY SOON DISCOVER SHE IS A BIT OF A PHENOMENON – A SPITEFUL ONE AT THAT