Claressa Shields has garnered a reputation for being one of the best female fighters ever. Not only does she have an illustrious boxing career, but she has also dipped her toes in the world of MMA. Naturally, with her excellence, there are bound to be a few hellbent on trying to bring her down.
Recently, Claressa Shields took to her ‘X’ handle to clear the air regarding a viral training clip. In the clip, she can be seen sparring with another male fighter, who drops her with a left hook. However, with Shields being as tough and durable as she is, it was surprising to imagine her getting dropped. As such, in a series of tweets, the 28-year-old spoke on the matter.
One thing for sure, if I went public 2018 about how this fellow professional boxer & boxing trainer took his padding out his gloves to sparr against me because I embarrassed him earlier that week, it would have jeopardized my upcoming world title fight.
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) December 11, 2023
Taking to her ‘X’ handle, Claressa wrote a series of tweets on the matter. As it turns out, the clip was from 2018, and only now has it seen the light of day. Obviously, a play for relevancy and clout, the fighter kept the clip with him for five whole years. Currently, the reason for him posting the clip is unknown, only that it is one of the unsaid rules of sparring. As clarified with the whole Ian Garry sparring situation, posting sparring clips is seen as a sign of disrespect.
Notably, in 2018, when the clip was recorded, Claressa was defending her WBC and IBF female Super Middleweight titles. During that year, the ‘GWOAT‘ also went on to capture the WBA and inaugural IBF female Middleweight titles and the WBC female Middleweight title. Thus, at the time, Shields did not mention the situation or the shady actions of the boxer and his coach.
Claressa Shields calls out Arturs Ahmetovs and his coach
Eventually, time passed, and Shields let go of the matter, choosing to focus on her own career. Gradually, the Olympic gold medalist became one of the most decorated boxers on the planet. For those unaware, she is one of only three people to hold all four major world titles: WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO, in two weight classes, in the history of boxing.
Despite such lofty accomplishments, Shields has often stayed quite humble. Training with male boxers most of the time, she has no hesitancy to accept that she has been dropped in sparring before. However, there is more to the story when it comes to this specific boxer. For one, we now know the fighter to be a Latvian boxer, Arturs Ahmetovs.
I have no problem getting caught in sparring it happens and I Sparr majority Men! But this dude Arthur and his coach Derrick santos were embarrassed and next time we sparred he purposely wore gloves with no little to no padding, I can’t make this up. I couldn’t believe it https://t.co/9GmjXddYkA
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) December 11, 2023
As it turns out, Arturs was seemingly left embarrassed by Claressa in sparring. Thus, he and his coach, Derik Santos, plotted to teach her a lesson. In what is a highly controversial thing to do, the boxer removed the padding from his gloves, potentially endangering Shields’s life. Naturally, the two-divisional champ likely refused to train with him from then on.
As for Arturs Ahmetovs, he was still an amateur at the time. Since going pro, he has amassed a 6-1 record, losing to Rolando Romero in the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 2. Whilst it is unclear as to why Arturs chose to disclose this recording now, it has clearly gone against him. Not only that, but it will heavily impact his reputation from here on.