One of the boxing events of the year is set for June 3 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Claressa Shields, a native of the Wolverine State who grew up an hour away from the Motor City in Flint, is set to face off in a rematch against Hanna Gabriels of Costa Rica.
The pair last met with a World Championship on the line in 2018, when Shields won in the tenth round via unanimous decision. They fought in the middleweight classification then, and will do so this June as well.
Shields is one of two boxers to beat Gabriels, who holds a 21-2-1 record in her career.
Taking a look at Caesars Sportsbook Massachusetts is a must before this big fight for all New England area fans looking to support Claressa Shields continued run of dominance. Betting lines haven’t dropped for the fight yet, because it’s still more than a month away, but there are other events to hold you over until then, like Canelo Alvarez vs John Ryder on May 6.
Rest assured, Shields will be a heavy favorite when the odds finally drop. While Gabriels is one of the best fighters of her era, she’s 40 years old now and hasn’t fought since April of 2021: the extended break could do her some good (Shields’ last match was in October of 2022) but she could also start out rusty.
Gabriels’ last match was against Martha Gaytán of Mexico, who she defeated in her native Costa Rica with a second round technical knockout; Shields’ last match came in front of a sellout crowd at the O2 Arena in London against England’s Savannah Marshall (the only boxer to beat Shields, albeit during the Olympic trials, and therefore an amateur event).
Here’s a look at how Shields and Gabriels stack up.
Style Matchup
Shields is only 28 years old, but has already secured her position as one of the best female boxers the world has ever seen. With a perfect 13-0 record in her professional career, Shields is the only boxer (male or female) to hold world titles in all four major categories: the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, in two weight classes at the same time. Shields has multiple world championships in three weight classes, along with a pair of olympic gold medals at middleweight.
Gabriels is similarly talented, with world championships at four weight classes throughout her fifteen year professional career.
Gabriels is a much more vicious fighter than Shields is: eight of her wins are via TKO, four by knockout. While that streak has slowed down as her career ages on (most of her wins are via decision these days), she has an ability to land devastating hits that Shields hasn’t shown to this point. Just two of Shields’ wins are by TKO, all the rest coming from a unanimous decision. Her methodical ability to pace herself and excel through the pain, taking (and dishing out) heavy punishment as she hangs in there and outlast opponents, makes her bouts a sight to behold. In her win against Marshall, for instance, Shields said she couldn’t see out of her right eye for the final four rounds because of a devastating hit that Marshall landed.
Physical Matchup
Shields stands 5-foot-8 with a 68 inch reach. Gabriels is an inch shorter, at 5-foot-7, but her reach is the same as Shields’ is. As size goes, they’re incredibly balanced: Gabriels’ center of gravity is slightly lower, but she isn’t sacrificing any reach because of it, making it harder for Shields to stay out of her way.
As they’re competing at middleweight, they’ll both clock in somewhere between 154 and 160 lbs during the weigh in.
