Saturday was a big day for the sport of boxing, with several major events featuring some of the sport’s best fighters. Two undisputed championships were on the line as well as former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder returning to action for the first time since losing back-to-back fights to Tyson Fury.
The day kicked off with Claressa Shields scoring a win over old rival Savannah Marshall in London to become undisputed women’s middleweight champion. In Melbourne, Australia, Devin Haney outworked George Kambosos to earn a decision win and retain his status and undisputed lightweight champion. Then everything wrapped up in Brooklyn with some savage violence as Wilder needed less than one round to score a brutal knockout of Robert Helenius for his first win since November 2019.
Let’s take a look at the biggest takeaways from all the biggest fights of the day.
Wilder is still a bad, bad man
The “Bronze Bomber” returned on Saturday night to remind everyone of what his destructive right hand is capable of. Wilder finished rugged veteran and former training partner Robert Helenius in less than a round while landing just three punches total. Wilder called for possible matchups with either unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk or former unified champ Andy Ruiz Jr. to be next. Despite his two losses in three meetings with Tyson Fury, Wilder is still arguably the most dangerous puncher the heavyweight division has ever seen and could make a meeting with either opponent intriguing, even if just for the possibility of that one punch landing clean.
Haney — and the lightweight division — can finally move on
In June, Haney made it very clear that he was a better fighter than Kambosos, winning a clear decision to become undisputed champion. Still, the savvy business move by Kambosos and his team to include a mandatory rematch clause — and for it to also take place in Australia a second time — meant Haney couldn’t move on to the kind of fights everyone wanted to see, namely showdowns with the likes of Vasiliy Lomachenko, Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Ryan Garcia.
Haney was even more dominant in the rematch, utilizing a shark straight right hand to batter Kambosos throughout the fight. There was little doubt that Haney would win the rematch, but it was important for him to look good doing it. He did just that and then made it clear that any big name could come to him if they wanted a shot at the belts.
Haney has long wanted the Lomachenko fight and it seems the easiest to make in an interesting lightweight division. If Davis and Garcia can find their way to a deal, then lightweight will really be in a great place to become the division many expected before Kambosos upset Teofimo Lopez in late 2021.
Shields gets the win she needed
While there has never been any real debate over Claressa Shields’ place in the sport, some of her potential star power has been held back by a lack of compelling opponents. Shields has not had the same level of intriguing foes as Katie Taylor, the only woman who may actually be in the conversation with Shields as the best female boxer in the game.
In Savannah Marshall, Shields finally had an opponent worthy of her stunning talents. With the built-in story of Marshall as the lone woman to have ever defeated Shields in a boxing ring — an amateur win in 2012 — all the pieces were in place for the biggest fight of Shields’ career. Best of all, once the bell rang, Shields and Marshall delivered the goods, going punch for punch in an entertaining clash. The right opponent and a fun fight only served to help Shields moving forward. It was a perfect night for Shields, getting revenge and finally having the kind of classic fight that dots the resumes of all the sport’s greatest fighters.
Hopefully, Shields is able to find a way to carry this momentum forward and continue to draw the attention her skills deserve.
CBS Sports will be with you throughout the entire way on Saturday for both events, so be sure to follow along with the live results and highlights below.Â
