Savannah Marshall remains Shields’ best professional victory. Marshall brought size, power, confidence, and a previous amateur win over Shields into their October 2022 meeting. Shields responded by beating her clearly in front of a British crowd.
Christina Hammer also represented a legitimate test in 2019. After those two names, however, Shields’ record becomes much less convincing.
Her move through light heavyweight and heavyweight produced titles against Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, Danielle Perkins, Lani Daniels, and Franchon Crews-Dezurn. Shields dominated all four, but beating limited competition across multiple divisions does not carry the same historical value as defeating elite fighters near their peak.
Saturday’s stoppage of Kaye Scott continued that pattern. Scott was 42 years old and had completed only seven professional bouts before facing Shields. Capturing the WBA and WBC middleweight belts looked impressive in photographs, but the matchmaking offered little danger.
Tammara Thibeault would change that. The Canadian is a two-time Olympian, a former amateur world champion, and a natural middleweight with the size and technical ability to test Shields. Yet Shields has placed Lauren Price above her among her preferred opponents.
Price brings name recognition and an Olympic gold medal, but she has competed at welterweight. Shields weighed between 173½ and 174¾ pounds in her four fights before dropping to 159¾ against Scott. She has also discussed beginning her training camp near 200 pounds. If Price climbs from 147, Shields will own a considerable natural size advantage.
The weight question may force a decision soon. Returning to middleweight required Shields to remove nearly 40 pounds. Repeating that process will only become harder as she gets older.
Lucia Rijker, Ann Wolfe, and Katie Taylor encountered different limitations during their careers, but Shields has not separated herself from them through the opposition she has beaten. She has built the most decorated career in women’s boxing. To establish herself as its greatest fighter, she still needs a challenger capable of making defeat feel possible.
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