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Claressa Shields Reclaims WBA and WBC Middleweight Titles with Sixth-Round TKO

A disciplined 38-pound weight cut culminating in a sixth-round TKO restored the middleweight belts, accelerating talks for a potential fight with Lauren Price.

Overview

  • Claressa Shields stopped reigning champion Kaye Scott in the sixth round on Saturday, August 15, 2026, when Scott’s corner threw in the towel, giving Shields a TKO victory and moving her to 19-0 with four stoppages.
  • Shields said she began camp at about 198 pounds and cut roughly 38 pounds over 14 weeks to make the 160-pound limit, a process she called highly disciplined and one she managed by pacing the early rounds.
  • The decisive sequence came after a thunderous left hook that floored Scott and left her tangled in the ropes, after which Shields landed unanswered combinations that forced the stoppage.
  • The bout headlined State Farm Arena in Atlanta, streamed on DAZN with a Zeus undercard, and was reported as the venue’s first women’s headliner—an event that underscored rising commercial scale for women’s boxing.
  • With the belts back at middleweight, Shields immediately named unified welterweight champion Lauren Price as her preferred next opponent and also left open options for a Mikaela Mayer fight or full middleweight unification, a development that reshapes the matchmaking and title map in women’s boxing.