The Shield Proved Harder Than The Hammer As The Middleweight Title Was Unified, And That Is Undisputed.

by Damon Smith · April 14, 2019

Last night history was made when two undefeated champions clashed in heavily hyped match up to crown an undefeated, undisputed and unified Women’s middleweight champion. Shields vs Hammer headlined the event in Atlantic city that had the whole world talking. Two heavyweight bouts went down first, well sort of. One upset of note came on the under card so that is where we will start.

Brenda Karen Carabajal upset Elena Gradinar in a 10-round decision on the under card, Gradinar was expected to win by most everyone except Carabajal’s family, friends and corner but that didn’t stop Brenda from scratching out a big victory.

Our first heavyweight bout featured Otto Wallin vs Nick Kisner. Before either fighter could even break a sweat under the lights an incidental head butt caused a stoppage between the first and second round. While the head butt clearly happened and was an obvious accident Kisner kept saying he couldn’t see to his corner.The cut was above the eye and they got the blood stopped temporarily but Kisner was done. Keep in mind this was after Otto clearly had him out matched and had rag dolled Kisner to the mat in round one. We were all losers in this one.

Jermaine Franklin battled a ring tested but somewhat rusty Rydell Booker, Maybe rusty isn’t the right term Booker hadn’t had a lot of action the past few years until getting out of prison so a lack of quality fights as of late is the better phrase. Booker had only suffered one loss in his career and had amassed well over 20 wins so the completion was legit. Booker did a great job slipping the jab and making Franklin miss. Franklin stayed active and clearly won the 10 round decision as both men tired down the stretch.

Claressa “T[Rex” Shields vs Christina “Lady” Hammer was finally on deck. One fight to crown an undefeated, undisputed, unified Women’s middleweight champion. Round one clearly went to Hammer the the T-Rex started to feast. Winning rounds 2 through 5 and building a 4-1 advantage Shields was on fire. Round 6 I thought went to Hammer and perhaps the comeback was on. Shields shut down that thought immediately. Dominating rounds 7-10 the American Olympian cemented a resounding victory and silenced her doubters once again.

I will admit right here and right now that I too picked Lady Hammer to win this fight and i was dead wrong. Shields displayed the best fight of her career, improved striking was evident, beating Hammer at distance (which I didn’t expect) was a surprise. Hammer showed a ton of heart and a very stiff jab she kept trying to find the right path to attack but she just never was able to get going. Shields looked masterful in the ring and made a statement to be crowned and called the GWOAT.