Shields Added To Final HBO Card
Two-days after she retained her middleweight titles on the road to earning the WBC middleweight title, Claressa Shields has signed on to fight less than a month from now.
Shields, who would glide past Hannah Rankin on Saturday night, will return to the ring on December 8th, facing off against super middleweight champion Femke Hermans.
The fight, which will be at middleweight, has been added to the final HBO “Boxing After Dark” card at Stubhub Center in Carson, California.
Shields and Femke will join a card headlined by welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus, who looks for a 24th successful title defense against Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes, which Shields will have her eyes on.
“I’m so excited to be fighting live on HBO and to share the stage with Cecelia Braekhus on Dec. 8,” said Shields, who held unified belts at super middleweight before vacating to drop down to middleweight. “It’s a great step forward for women’s boxing to have the two best female fighters in the world on the same card on worldwide television.”
Shields has mentioned that she would welcome a move down to junior middleweight for a fight with Braekhus but is only willing to meet the undefeated 37-year old “half way.”
The other fight on the three-match broadcast, will see Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez facing off against Pedro Guevara.
Initial Report: ESPN