Round 8
Shields is opening up with power shots early in the frame. She has Hammer hurt and she’s looking to close the show! Shields is throwing bombs and the crowd is on its feet. Shot after shot is landing and the German is in full retreat! She has Hammer trapped in her corner with seconds left and she’s completely opened fire! Hammer throwing nothing in response and the referee could stop it! Hammer gets out of trouble and somehow makes it to the bell!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 80-72 Hammer)
Round 7
Shields is in control here but Hammer is not backing down, even if a Plan B is not readily apparent. Hammer manages to corner Shields about a minute into the round but can’t manage to land anything. Shields now landing power shots with greater frequency. A firefight breaks out toward the end of the frame and Shields wobbles Hammer with an overhand right! Hammer is warned by referee Sparkle Lee for something, maybe hitting on the break? She makes it out of the round, a big one for the American.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 70-63 Hammer)
Round 6
Hammer just can’t get anything going on offense as Shields is turning it into a rout with her effective aggression. The jab and the right hand are working for her and she’s slipping just about everything. Every time Hammer ventures into the pocket, Shields is already firing and she’s forced to revert to defense.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 60-54 Hammer)
Round 5
Shields lands another big right early in the fifth that causes Hammer to clinch. For all the bluster over Shields’ power, it’s her defense that’s really been winning her the night. She’s slipping almost everything Hammer throws beautifully. Hammer looking more steady in this round but it’s another round for Shields.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 50-45 Hammer)
Round 4
Hammer’s legs are certainly still there. Which is fortunate as she’s been mostly on the run since the second round. She’s moving around the ring nicely as Shields looks to close the distance and make it a rough fight. Hammer just not doing much offensively at all, expending all her energy to keep the American at bay. Shields lands a thudding right hand upstairs near the end of the round that stops Hammer in her tracks.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 40-36 Hammer)
Round 3
Hammer continues to try and work off the jab. She’s circling back and to the left away from Shields’ powerful right, but Shields is able to slip most of the offerings and land a few head shots in return. Shields is not doing much damage in this round but Hammer, who’s face is marked up a bit, is looking far more tentative than in the first. A closer round but another to the American.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 30-27 Hammer)
Round 2
Now Shields is letting her hands go a little more, but Hammer is doing a good job of measuring the distance and staying out of range. But Shields is coming forward into the pocket and lands a pair of big right hands. She senses Hammer is hurt and barrels in, throwing punches in combination. Shields throws four straight lefts and lands the last two of them as the crowd comes to its feet. Hammer escapes from any serious trouble but that round was all Shields.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 20-18 Hammer)
Round 1
Opening bell. The fighters meet in the center of the ring and measure each other up. Hammer misses with a left and Shields lands a right over the top. Hammer tries to double up the jab but Shields is making her miss with deft head movement. Hammer really pressing that reach advantage with her left but hasn’t been able to do too much scoring with it thanks to the American’s defense. Shields nearly lands a counter left hook in the last few seconds of the round but it doesn’t quite land flush.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Hammer (Shields 10-9 Hammer)
First to enter is Hammer. The popular Dortmund boxer is making her way to the ring to Fat Joe and Remy Ma song’s All the Way Up. It’s a hostile crowd with most here pulling for the two-time Olympic gold medalist but Hammer is having fun with the moment, mugging for the audience amid the chorus of boos. Next it’s Shields wearing a a white robe with green trim, accompanied by an emcee and three of her middleweight title belts. Looking all business.
Christy Martin is here at Boardwalk Hall and she’s just been called into the ring by announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr ahead of the fighters’ entrances. The former two-division world champion helped put women’s boxing on the map during the 1990s, appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated and lifting the sport to new levels of visibility.
Now chants of “T Rex! T Rex!” – Shields’ cretaceous nickname – echo throughout the room as the crowd awaits the main event.
Jermaine Franklin has just defeated Rydell Booker by a unanimous decision in the final undercard bout. It was a far closer fight than the official scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92 would suggest, but Franklin (18-0, 13 KOs), a 25-year-old from Saginaw, did well to overcome some tricky moments and deliver a strong finishing kick in the 10-rounder.
Shields and Hammer are next.
The surprise of the night (so far) came early on the undercard. Samuel Peter, who held the WBC heavyweight title in 2008, lost a disputed split decision to Mexico’s Mario Heredia in the second fight of his comeback from a three-year layoff. The Nigerian Nightmare, now 38, scored a knockdown in the third round but was unable to close the show and left the ring in dismay after judges Eugene Grant (77-74) and James Kinney (76-75) scored it for Heredia while Alan Rubenstein had it 79-72 for Peter (as did the Guardian).
It was a step up in competition from Peter’s last fight – a first-round knockout of Gerardo Escobar (2-22, 1 KO) at Cheers Bar & Grill in Tijuana (where everybody knows your name) – but it’s surely a career high point for the journeyman Heredia (16-1-1, 13 KOs), who was 2-5-1 in his last eight and has been stopped five times in his career.
Thing is, it may not even be Peter’s biggest disappointment in this building. Way back in 2005, Peter dropped Wladimir Klitschko three times in a heavyweight title eliminator at Boardwalk Hall only to lose a unanimous decision by 114-111 on all three cards.
Hello and welcome to Atlantic City for tonight’s middleweight title unification fight between Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer. We’re ringside at the Adrian Phillips Theater at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall for what’s been called the most significant women’s boxing fight in a generation as Shields, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who’s captured three of the major world titles at 160lbs in the last year, and Christina Hammer, the German émigrée from Kazakhstan who has owned the fourth for nearly a decade, will meet to determine only the second champion in the history of women’s boxing to unify all four major championship belts.
The first of tonight’s two televised preliminary bouts has just finished … and practically before it started. Otto Wallin, the undefeated Swedish heavyweight comer from Sweden, was forced to settle for a no-contest after opponent Nick Kisner suffered a cut from an accidental clash of heads in the first round of their scheduled 10-rounder.
Shields and Hammer will make their ringwalks in a little under an hour with just one undercard fight to go: another heavyweight scrap between Jermaine Franklin and Rydell Booker scheduled for 10 rounds.
