For the second consecutive fight, the American fought in England, but this time she squared off against her biggest rival in front of 20,000 fans screaming for Savannah Marshall to knock her head off and deny her a second reign as undisputed middleweight champion.
However, her efforts came up short.
Shields boxed her head off in a scintillating display of skill to win a unanimous decision over Marshall at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday to become a two-time undisputed 160-pound title holder.
Judges Luigi Boscarelli and Frank Lombardi scored it 97-93 for Shields, while Steve Gray saw it 96-94 for Shields. Legendz TV scored it 96-94 for Shields, who outpointed Christina Hammer in April 2019 to win her first undisputed 160-pound crown.
The dual Olympic gold medalist (2012, 2016) has now won world titles in three weight classes. After unifying two belts at super middleweight, Shields went on a tear at middleweight before dropping down to junior middleweight, where she defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision in March 2021 in her hometown of Flint, Michigan, to become an undisputed world champion in two weight divisions. No boxer, male or female, has ever accomplished that.
With that said, Shields is arguably the best woman boxer of all time. Some may postulate that women's boxing isn't deep enough in this era to declare anyone the greatest. However, that has nothing to do with Shields, whose wins have never been in question.
By defeating Marshall, Shields avenged the only loss of her career in the sweet science -- Marshall defeated her as a 17-year-old amateur in a 2012 bout that Shields believed she won -- and in finally conquering the beast that has been in her ear ever since that upset win 10 years ago, Shields has truly taken women's boxing to the next level.
"It's not just a special moment for me, it's a special moment for women's boxing," Shields said in the post-fight interview. "Savannah Marshall, Alycia Baumgardner, Mikaela Mayer, Caroline Dubois. I mean, women's boxing has been around for so many years and so many great stuff happened before us.”
"But here we are in front of 20,000 fans in London at O2 Arena, and I think that's fight of the year. I'm just so happy and it's an unbelievable moment right now."
Shields dictated the pace in the early portion of the fight, aggressively attacking Marshall coupled with solid defense to keep her rival at bay. She landed 35 power punches in the first two rounds on Marshall, the most any opponent has ever landed on the 31-year-old.
Shields outlanded Marshall in seven of the 10 rounds, but Marshall rallied in the second half and began landing hard power shots in the fifth round.
According to Compubox, Shields landed 175 of 480 punches (36.4 percent), while Marshall connected with 136 of 397 punches (34.3 percent). Marshall did land a higher percentage of power punches (43.1 percent to 40.4 percent), but Shields landed more overall (131 to 122).
"She's a tough competitor. She's a hard puncher. She has endurance," Shields said. "But I'm the better fighter 10 years later.
"Shields (13-0, 1 KO) stated she could not see out of her right eye from the sixth round forward due to Marshall's heavy punches, and that was when Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs) seemed to close the gap. And despite getting hit hard in the final few rounds, Shields' chin held up to claim a stunning victory.
"Claressa is a brilliant fighter," Marshall said after suffering her first loss. "She definitely is. She's not as fast as I thought she was, but she's a brilliant fighter and she's definitely earned the title of greatest woman of all time."
