Flint native Claressa “GWOAT” Shields and her next opponent, Heavyweight World Champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse came face-to-face at a press conference at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Shields will rise two weight classes to challenge Joanisse for the WBC Women’s Heavyweight Championship at Little Caesars Arena on July 27. If Shields wins, she would become a four-division world champion. The vacant WBO Light Heavyweight Championship will also be on the line.
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“It’s always good to be here,” said Shields. “I knew I blew the roof off this place last year, so I was excited to get the call they wanted to have us come back.”
“I’ve been saying for years I can fill up stadiums like Little Caesars or Madison Square Garden,” said Shields. “They never gave me the opportunity. Now I’ve had the opportunity once and on July 27 there will be 19,000 people and it’s going to be a great fight.”
Joanisse of Quebec, Canada is not backing down from the challenge of facing the “GWOAT.” She aims to boost her popularity by beating Shields.
(When she got the call to face Shields) “I said let’s go! I want the popularity Claressa has,” said Joanisse. “She’s the face of women’s boxing and I want this fight. She has what I want.”
“People know my strength and power, but what they don’t see is my heart,” said Joanisse. “I’ve been through so much in my life. Just like Claressa, I feed off it. Little Caesars will be filled with a lot of fans screaming for her, but I will have all of Quebec behind me. They know my story and they know I’m going to bring that belt back home with me on July 27.”
It may seem like a tall task for a super middleweight to jump up to heavyweight but this bout will be fought at 175lbs, which is a comfortable weight for Shields.
“That’s the weight that I walk around at,” said Shields in a one-on-one interview after the press conference. “So when I fight at 154 and 160 I get as big as 175 pounds but don’t get any bigger. So that’s why this fight I’ll be a lot more comfortable and I don’t have to lose a whole lot of weight.”
“People talk about how I don’t have knockout power, but I have to kill myself to make weight too,” said Shields. “Now that I don’t, I think I will be putting all that talk to rest. She’s coming big, strong and fast, but I’m coming big, strong and fast too.”
When Shields and Joanisse went face-to-face, it was clear that Shields has the height advantage. However, Joanisse says she is used to fighter taller opponents.
“She says basically being in heavyweights whether it’s in the amateurs or pros all her life she fought taller girls,” said Joanisse’s promoter and translator Camille Estephan.
“The taller they are the harder they fall.”
Shields says that she is accustomed to fighting bigger, stronger opponents and is prepared for the aggressive style of Joanisse.
“I look forward to facing off with Vanessa,” said Shields. “She does come forward and she’s a head-hunter. She’s big and she throws her weight around. I can’t wait for her to do that stuff to me so I can show her ‘you big and everything, and you’re strong, but there hasn’t been anyone I fought who wasn’t big and strong.’ I’m in the gym putting on some weight for you. I squatted 230 yesterday and I’m benching 185, just to keep this big girl off me.”
Shields’ boxing legacy can only be compared to the greatest boxers of all time. If Shields wins against Joanisse, then she would be the only female fighter to jump from junior middleweight to heavyweight and win the world title. The only male fighter in 100 years to do it is Roy Jones Jr.
“Claressa makes history in every fight,” said Mark Taffet, President of Mark Taffet Media. “In 2003, Roy Jones became the first man in 100 years to move up from middleweight and win the heavyweight championship of the world. On July 27, Claressa will attempt to duplicate that and become the first woman to do it. We’re thrilled again to have her continue to expand her legacy in this sport on her way to the boxing hall of fame someday. She has a lot of history still to make and she’s committed to making it”
With Shields already having a “GWOAT” status boxing resume some could say she has nothing left to prove in the sport but she still wants to achieve more. She aims to be a global superstar that is recognized everywhere.
“I want to be like the Beyoncé of boxing,” said Shields. “Everybody knows Beyoncé. You can ask anybody in the world, ‘Beyoncé?’ and everybody probably starts doing ‘Put a Ring On It.’ They love Beyoncé. I want to be like wherever I go in the world, everybody knows who I am, what I do, what I represent and they know me as a person. Dislike me, like me, whatever but they just know that’s the girl that brought so much life to boxing and so much life to women’s sports.”
Tickets for the live event are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the XFINITY Box Office at LCA.