By Cody Yarbrough, Contributing Writer
The T-rex of Flint is returning to Michigan to terrorize the masses once more. The three-time undisputed middleweight world champion Claressa “GWOAT” Shields will be looking to make history later this month at her fight in the Little Ceaser’s Arena against the current WBC women’s heavyweight world champion, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. Hosted by the fight streaming platform DAZN, the two fighters will compete not only for the WBC women’s heavyweight belt but also for the vacant WBO light heavyweight belt. A victory for Sheilds would mean that she would be the first four-division title champion ever in women’s boxing. Fighting for such high stakes in a new weight class might intimidate a lesser boxer, but for Shields, it’ll be a chance to showcase to the world her true power.
In order to fight in the heavyweight division, Shields will be jumping up to 175 pounds, two weight classes up from her normal fighting size. However, this weight is actually very similar to her natural size, meaning that she’ll be fighting with much more energy than if she had to cut 20 pounds. She’ll also be punching with power much closer to her God-given strength. Dehydrating before weigh-in and rehydrating right before a fight can take a huge toll on a fighter’s body, and there’s no perfect way to do it while retaining full strength and energy. But since Shields won’t have to manipulate her body as much to make weight for this fight, we might get an opportunity to see something even more special from her.
“I ain’t gotta to drain myself,” Shields stated in an interview with WWBN 101.5. “I’ll be strong. I don’t have to do no saunas, no sweatsuits, no nothing to make weight. People always go ‘Oh you’re 14-0 with two knockouts against the best of the best!’ But I’ve also have had to fight in those very small weight classes. So now that there’s girls [in the heavyweight division] and I can fight at my natural weight, people are gonna see how strong I am and how hard those punches are on July 27 because I’m gonna be very, very strong.”
Despite having no professional heavyweight bouts, the GWOAT—Greatest Woman of All Time – is by far the favorite to win this matchup, with some Vegas bookmakers putting a loss for Shields at -4000 betting odds. It would be a mistake to count out Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse completely, though. After all, you don’t win a world heavyweight title by mistake. After taking a six-year hiatus from boxing, the 28-year-old Canadian fighter is currently on a four-fight winning streak since returning in 2023. Joanisse also has a few advantages of her own heading into this fight. She has much more experience fighting close to 175 lbs than Shields, with all eight of her fights being in the heavyweight division. The current champ also has the good fortune of facing a version of Shields, who has not boxed in over a year. Shields’s last boxing match was in the Little Ceasar’s Area on June 3, 2023, where she defended her undisputed middleweight title against Maricela Cornejo. Joanissia, on the other hand, is only four months removed from her fight belt-winning bout against Abril Argentina Vidal. Both fighters will have to utilize every advantage available to beat their opponent, and they undoubtedly will. Because with the state of women’s boxing, the victor of this match will have a chance to add one of the most coveted titles to their name.
At the time of this article, all the other female heavyweight division titles are vacant. This means that the winner of this fight will have an open opportunity to collect the rest of the belts and become the undisputed heavyweight world champion. Such an accomplishment for Shields will silence even the harshest of critics who question her “GWOAT” status, and an undisputed reign for Joanisse will prove to the boxing world that she’s no visitor to the spotlight and deserves her proper respect. The stakes are high for the night of the 27th, but before that fateful moment arrives, Shields and Joanisse must work together to win a fight happening outside of the ring. And that’s the one in the box office.
Like most professional female athletes, attention and ticket sales are a huge part of women’s boxing and can be difficult at times. Shields is the biggest ticket seller in her sport by far, especially in Michigan. During her last fight in Detroit, over 12,000 attendees came to watch her defend the middleweight title. Between her in-ring success and her confident Flint aura, she’s managed to cultivate a fan base who support women’s sports with their wallets instead of simply on social media. Over the year, she’s learned that, unlike her male counterparts, she can’t trust the regular boxing media circuit to properly promote her fights. To keep from being ignored or painted in an ugly light, Shields quickly learned that the best hands for her image were her own.
“I have given Showtime the responsibility of promoting and marketing me,” Shields explained on the Broken Play podcast as part of her press run for the upcoming fight. “And when they would post stuff it would be all: Black girl! Flint water crisis! She was sexually abused! She was bullied! They really panned me out to be a woman who wants to hurt people and possibly wants to hurt men. That I’m just a fighter and an angry Black woman. So I had to take control of that. Now any girl I talk to I tell them ‘Build! Your! Brand!’ Don’t let anyone else build your brand. What do you want to stand for? What do you want to represent? ”
Shields seems to be following her own advice to the T by making multiple podcast appearances and social media posts leading up to the fight. If the attendance numbers match that of Sheilds’s last matchup, it will also be the largest crowd Joanisse has ever fought in front of. Between the efforts of Shields and her Ohio-born Twitter rival Alycia Baumgardner, Detroit has become something of an unofficial capital for women’s boxing. And if Shields wins again on the 27th, the city’s historical importance in women’s combat sports will grow even further.
However, online marketing and self-promotion haven’t taken Shields’s eye off her goal. In several interviews and posts, she’s remarked on how tough of an opponent Joanisse will be. Joanisse is neither intimidated by her height nor her experience and is eager to take some shine away from the self-proclaimed GWOAT. But if there’s one thing that fans of Shields know about her, it’s that she lives for challenges like this. You can question her commitment and capability, but one thing you better not do is bet against her. Because come July 27, the same fire that inspired her to dominate in three different divisions, make a name for herself in MMA, and call out the heavyweight champion will be inside of her when she steps into the ring at the Little Cesar’s Arena in the beating heart of her home state.