Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑13 Feb 2019, 03:18
The winner of Shields vs. Hammer will join Terrence Crawford, Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Oleksandr Usyk and women’s welterweight Cecilia Braekhus as the only fighters to have unified all four major world titles in any weight class.
Shields vs. Hammer is promoted by Salita Promotions. Ticket prices and on-sale date will be announced next week by Boardwalk Hall.
“I always seek the biggest challenges and set the highest goals. I will be ready like never before and will defeat Christina Hammer on April 13,” said Shields. “Nothing will stop me from becoming undisputed champion and continuing my journey to carry women’s boxing to never-before-seen heights. I want to be the greatest of all time and change the game forever for all women in sports, and April 13 is an important step on that road to history.”
“I have waited a long time for this moment,” said Hammer. “I am bigger, stronger and more experienced than Claressa Shields. I am undefeated and have been a champion for over eight years. I can’t wait to show the world that I am the best and undisputed middleweight champion of the world.”
“SHOWTIME Sports has a long history of featuring the best in women’s combat sports, whether it was with Laila Ali and Christy Martin in boxing, or Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey in MMA,” said Gordon Hall, Executive Producer of SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION. “More recently, since 2016 we have featured today’s elite with Claressa Shields, Christina Hammer, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano appearing in an industry-leading 10 presentations of women’s boxing. Male or female, SHOWTIME has delivered the best fighters in their toughest matchups, and April 13 will be no different. We have two of the best pound-for-pound female fighters in the world facing each other with all four middleweight titles at stake. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
“The biggest women’s fight of all time is set to take place on April 13 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City,” said promoter Dmitriy Salita. “Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer, both champions, both in their prime, are not only taking on the biggest challenge in their respective careers by meeting each other in the ring, but are breaking barriers for boxing and for women in sports. April 13 is destined to be an electric and historic night of boxing live on SHOWTIME.”
“Shields vs. Hammer is the biggest and most important fight in women’s boxing history – two undefeated unified champions in their prime battling for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world,” said Shields’ manager Mark Taffet. “Christina Hammer is indeed a very good fighter and champion, but Claressa Shields is once-in-a-lifetime. The same intense focus and determination that got Claressa through life, earned her two Olympic gold medals, and won her five world titles in eight pro fights will carry her to victory on April 13.”
“We are very excited to bring world-class championship boxing back to Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall,” said Matt Doherty, Executive Director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. “This reinforces the CRDA’s commitment to attract world-class sporting events and increase visitors to our destination.”
