Claressa Shields promises knockout against Marie Eve Dicaire!
It is fight week for Claressa Shields (10-0, 2KOs) and Marie Eve Dicaire (17-0). These two unbeaten champions will knuckle up in a undisputed junior middleweight championship bout on March 5 at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint, Michigan. Known more for their skills than punching power, Shields is looking to change that come fight night.
RELATED: Claressa Shields v Marie-Eve Dicaire: An Undisputed Showdown At 154!
Speaking to fighthype.com, she revealed that she has been working on her power for nearly eight months, hoping to accumulate more stoppage wins on her resume.
“I think all my performances have been great, but this will for sure be a knockout. That’s what I’ve been missing from my resume, I guess was like that signature knockout or whatever. But now I feel like this is the year of knockouts for me. So it’s going to be a big year.
So I was benching 135 barely back in June, and now I bench 185 and I can bench 135 twelve times. I know that I’ve been working on not just my arms strength, but my shoulders and my traps, and my back and my triceps and biceps. Everything that consists, even my legs, you know. Just strengthening my core to twist harder and have more torque on my punches.
I’ve spent months doing that. Not just a training camp of six weeks, but I’ve been working to strengthen all of that for the past eight months. I think people are gonna be surprised by how much power I show in this fight, and I always show the power and the combinations but to see how they hurt and how I’m going to wobble her, drop her and stuff. I think she’s a great fighter but I feel like I’ve trained too hard for her to even compete, I feel.”
The old saying in boxing is, “either you’re born with it or you’re not” when it comes to power. While improving technique, punch placement and accuracy can help, your punching ability is your punching ability. While Shields may get the knockout victory over Dicaire, I think it will be more so due to volume and speed more than pure punching power. Let’s face it, in ten fights she has only stopped two opponents, and she is one of the more aggressive fighters fighting today. However, we shall see come March 5.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
