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Two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-division pro world champion Claressa Shields kicked off tonight’s last-ever HBO boxing broadcast with an easy middleweight title defense against an overmatched Femke Hermans, retaining the WBC, IBF, and WBA titles.
Shields (8-0, 2 KO) won on scores of 100-90 across the board. BLH also had it 100-90 for Shields. Hermans drops to 9-2 (3 KO).
Shields, 23, dominated the fight entirely, with Hermans unable to do much more than stand in there and take shots, which she did quite well, to be fair. It was just a complete skill mismatch and that was apparent from the first round. Hermans was game and tried her best, but she was way out of her league here.
Statistically, it was a total wipeout, with Shields landing 119 of 421 (28%) of her total punches, including 104 of 272 (38%) of her power shots. Hermans landed just 29 of 266 (11%) of her punches, and 25 of 127 (20%) of her power shots.