(OCT 27) On Saturday,
November 17th, at the Kansas Star Arena and Casino in Mulvane,
Kansas, two-division women’s world champion Claressa
"T-Rex" Shields of Flint, Michigan, will be defending her IBF
and WBA World Middleweight titles, and looking to add the vacant
WBC title against Hannah Rankin from Glasgow, Scotland.
In a ten-round bout, Shields (6-0, 2 KOs), and Rankin (5-2, 1
KO) will be featured in a co-featured bout to Brooklyn-born
heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller’s WBA World Heavyweight
Championship showdown against Romania’s Bogdan Dinu.
These two fights will be broadcast live on DAZN, along with
former world champion Brandon Rios taking on Canelo’s brother,
Ramon Alvarez, in a super welterweight 10-rounder and former
two-time world middleweight title challenger Gabriel Rosado
going against once-beaten contender Luis Arias.
Shields was originally scheduled to face WBC and WBO World
Middleweight Champion Christina Hammer on November 17th, but the
bout was postponed after Hammer withdrew due to medical reasons.
Hammer has been named a champion in recess during her recovery.
The two champions are now projected to do battle in the first
quarter of 2019.
“Claressa is a once-in-a-generation athlete that transcends the
sport,” said her promoter, Dmitriy Salita. “She will take
another step in her goal to achieve the status of GWOAT as she
makes the first defense of her middleweight world titles against
the skilled and durable Hannah Rankin.”
A bonafide women’s superstar and TV ratings favorite,
23-year-old “T-Rex” Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medallist
and already a world champion in two weight divisions.
In her fourth professional fight, she won the IBF and WBC Super
Middleweight Championships in August 2017 with a dominant
stoppage of Germany’s Nikki Adler. Then, in June of this year
and in just her sixth pro fight, she dropped down to 160 pounds
and won the IBF and WBA Middleweight titles with an exciting
unanimous decision over Hannah Gabriels.
“I’m so excited to be able to give my fans another chance to see
me defend my championship this year and to have the opportunity
to win the WBC middleweight title on November 17,” said Shields.
“I appreciate the efforts of Salita Promotions, my manager Mark
Taffet, and Matchroom Boxing in putting this fight together so
quickly. I will be in great shape and will provide a great
performance.”
“I want to thank Salita Promotions and Matchroom Boxing for
providing Claressa with another chance to fight this year and an
opportunity to attain a third middleweight world championship,”
said Mark Taffet, manager of Claressa Shields. “Claressa is
hungry and motivated to put on a great performance on November
17 on DAZN. Claressa has lofty goals and I have no doubt that
she’s going to achieve every one of them, including fighting and
defeating Christina Hammer early next year. I expect Shields vs
Rankin to be an action-packed fight that fans will enjoy
tremendously."
28-year-old Rankin put in an impressive and brave performance
while losing a challenge for Alicia Napoleon’s WBA Super
Middleweight Championship in August of this year. Before that,
she picked up the WBC Silver Middleweight Championship with a
dominant victory over Finland’s Sanna Turunen in June.
“I’m excited about the fight and proud to be representing
Scotland on such a big stage,” said Rankin. “In boxing, nothing
is impossible and on November 17, it will be just us in there
when the bell rings and I think it’s going to be one hell of a
fight.”
