Claressa Shields dominates Marie Dicaire en route to becoming a two-time undisputed champion!
Following ten dominant rounds, Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (11-0, 2 KO’s) picked up a unanimous decision win over Marie Dicaire (17-1, 0 KO’s). With the victory, Shields added Dicaire’s IBF World Super Welterweight strap to her WBC and WBO World Welterweight titles. T-Rex also collected the WBA World Super Welterweight title that was up for grabs. Along with the titles, Shields made history by becoming the first fighter in the modern four-belt era to simultaneously become an undisputed champion in two separate weight classes. To make the night even sweeter, Shields headlined the first all-female boxing pay-per-view card in history.
Ultimately, the night was a complete disaster for Dicaire who was making her American debut. Outside of collecting her first professional loss, she lost her title and absorbed a fair amount of punishment in doing so.
Going into the fight, there was no question that T-Rex was likely going to have a monopoly on power. This is was heavily suggested by the fact that out of Dicaire’s 17 professional wins, zero have come by way of knockout. At the same time, there was no question that the tricky southpaw had enough skill to give Shields a great deal of problems. Once in the squared-circle however, Shields’ power and hand-speed proved to be far too much for Dicaire to handle.
ONE WAY ACTION
When the fight opened, Dicaire opted to circle around the ring and force T-Rex to pursue. Throughout the first round, Shields threw few punches but the majority of her counter shots were hard and impactful. Due to the heavy fire, she was contending with Dicaire’s movements and came off as more skittish rather than purposefully or strategic. The second largely mirrored the first period, only Shields began using her jab more effectively.
On a number of occasions in the third round, T-Rex caught Dicaire with thudding straight rights to the face. In the fifth round, Dicaire was able to consistently get in punching range without sustaining a great deal of damage. Sadly however, the Canadian did little else than bounce on her toes and instantly clinch when in close. At the same time, Shields seemed to be stalling her own offense by remaining fixated on only throwing hard shots.
T-Rex enjoyed a big sixth round due to landing a number of those big shots. While Dicaire was never buzzed, she was pushed all around the ring. Down the stretch, very little changed about the dynamics of the fight. Dicaire continued burning a great deal of energy bouncing on the outside and achieving very little offensive success. Meanwhile, Shields was clearly landing the harder punches but her heavy-handed obsession limited her chance to land more regularly. In the end, when the scorecards were read, T-Rex walked away with an unanimous decision win.
By: Bakari Simpson
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