Claressa Shields Stops Kaye Scott To Reclaim Middleweight Titles In Atlanta

Claressa Shields went all the way back down to middleweight and didn’t need the judges when she got there.

Shields stopped defending champion Kaye Scott in the sixth round in Atlanta, moving to 19-0-0 and reclaiming the WBA and WBC middleweight titles. Scott fell to 5-2-1 after being overwhelmed as the fight got away from her.

There was drama elsewhere too. Bernice Ferreira left with the WBC and IBO super-featherweight belts after Caroline Veyre was disqualified for excessive holding, while Troy Isley stayed unbeaten and Da’Velle Smith produced one of the better stoppages on the undercard.

Claressa Shields Stops Kaye Scott In Six

Dropping back to 160lb clearly didn’t take the edge off Claressa Shields.

Shields stopped Kaye Scott by TKO at 1:38 of round six, improving from 18-0-0 to 19-0-0 while Scott dropped from 5-1-1 to 5-2-1.

Scott had entered the ring as the champion, but Shields increasingly took control of the fight. The speed difference was difficult for Scott to deal with and Shields was able to attack both upstairs and to the body as the rounds went by.

Round six finished it. Scott was ruled down and, after she continued, Shields went after her rather than allowing her time to recover. A sustained attack brought the stoppage at 1:38.

That’s a statement considering the circumstances. Shields had come back down from heavyweight to challenge at middleweight, and instead of simply banking another decision she forced the stoppage and took the belts back. No surprise result, perhaps, but the manner of it was impressive.

Bernice Ferreira Wins Titles After Caroline Veyre Disqualification

The strangest ending of the night belonged to Bernice Ferreira and Caroline Veyre.

Ferreira was awarded victory by disqualification in round seven after Veyre was thrown out for excessive holding. Veyre had already been deducted a point for holding in round four and lost another point for the same offence in the seventh before the contest was finally stopped at 1:04.

The scorecards show just how significant the ending was. Pat Cronin had Veyre ahead 66-65, Mike Ross had Ferreira leading 67-64, while Troyce Stamey had Veyre up 67-64. Instead of the judges deciding it, referee Malik Waleed did.

Ferreira moves from 10-0-0 to 11-0-0 and leaves Atlanta with the IBO and WBC super-featherweight titles. Veyre falls from 11-1-0 to 11-2-0. Not the way anyone expects a world-title fight to finish, but after two point deductions the warning signs were certainly there.

Troy Isley Stays Unbeaten Against Joseph Hicks

Troy Isley handled business over ten rounds against Joseph Hicks, taking a unanimous decision and improving from 16-0-0 to 17-0-0.

Isley had to work for this one and was deducted a point for kidney punching in round five, but still finished ahead on all three cards. Pat Cronin and Alex Marin each scored it 96-93, with Nola Oliver wider at 97-92.

Hicks drops from 12-1-0 to 12-2-0 after the ten-round UD. Isley’s unbeaten record remains intact, although this was more about getting the job done than producing a spectacular finish.

Other Title Fight

Ashleyann Lozada remained unbeaten by outpointing Paulette Cuesta by unanimous decision over ten rounds. Lozada moved from 4-0-0 to 5-0-0, with Cuesta slipping from 19-5-1 to 19-6-1. The cards were decisive: 100-90, 99-91 and 100-90.

Undercard

Atif Oberlton made it 17-0-0 with a shutout unanimous decision over Roamer Alexis Angulo (29-5-0) after ten rounds. All three judges returned identical 100-90 scorecards.

Unbeaten Da’Velle Smith moved to 15-0-0 by stopping Hakim Lopez (16-2-0) by TKO at 1:44 of round six. Smith was ahead on all three cards when he ended it, so there was nothing fortunate about that result.

Shannel Butler kept her unbeaten record with a unanimous decision over Marianela Soledad Ramirez after eight rounds. Butler advances to 9-0-0 and Ramirez falls to 14-12-2, with scores of 79-72, 79-73 and 78-74.

Another unbeaten record disappeared when Jaquan McElroy outpointed Alexander Thiel over six rounds. McElroy, now 8-0-0, won the unanimous decision by three identical scores of 58-56. Thiel leaves at 5-1-0.

Casey Dixon survived a first-round knockdown to beat Michael Nelson by unanimous decision over six rounds. Dixon returned the favour by dropping Nelson in rounds three and four before taking scores of 58-53, 58-53 and 57-54. Dixon moves to 8-0-0 and Nelson to 4-4-1.

Daniel Mercado needed just 1:48 of the opening round to knock out Rahmel McKinley. McKinley was dropped twice by body shots before the KO, leaving Mercado at 2-0-0 and McKinley at 1-5-0.

In an influencer bout fought with 14oz gloves, Willie Ray Norwood beat Orlando Brown by unanimous decision after three rounds. Brown was down in the first and the judges scored it 29-27, 30-26 and 29-27. Both men were listed as debutants.

The other influencer contest ended inside the distance as Kainoa Fuiava knocked out Xavier Pabon at 1:13 of round two. Pabon had already been down once in the opening round before hitting the canvas twice more in the second. Both were listed as making their debuts.

Shields came back to middleweight for Scott’s belts and left with them after six rounds. Ferreira’s bizarre DQ win supplied the night’s controversy, while Isley, Oberlton, Smith and several of the card’s other unbeaten fighters all moved forward. Plenty happened in Atlanta.

Full Card Highlights