The women’s undisputed junior middleweight world title fight between Claressa Shields and Marie-Eve Dicaire has been postponed, as expected, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Salita Promotions announced Wednesday.
Shields’ two world titles, Dicaire’s one, and a vacant title were all to be on the line on May 9 in the main event of a Showtime-televised card at the Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center in Flint, Michigan, Shields’ hometown.
It is the latest fight card of more than 70 to be called off in the past two weeks.
“Unfortunately, the real fight is outside the ring right now,” promoter Dmitriy Salita said. “Once our invisible opponent is beaten, we can get back to watching two undefeated champions and the two best [junior middleweights] in the world vie for the undisputed world title as Claressa Shields continues to build her incredible legacy in female boxing.”
Salita said he hopes a new date can be announced soon and that tickets for May 9 will be honored or that refunds are available.
Shields (10-0, 2 KOs), 25, a two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist and former unified super middleweight titlist, is the reigning undisputed women’s middleweight world champion and is aiming to become the first female boxer to be an undisputed champion in two weight classes.
In Shields’ last fight, on Jan. 10 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, she dropped down from middleweight, knocked down Ivana Habazin and cruised to a near-shutout decision to win a pair of vacant 154-pound belts. With the victory, Shields set a record by needing the fewest fights — 10 — in boxing history, male or female, to win world titles in three weight classes. She surpassed the mark of 12 set by Vasiliy Lomachenko and Kosei Tanaka.
Dicaire (17-0, 0 KOs), 33, a southpaw from Saint-Eustache, Quebec, will be making the fourth defense of the world title she won by decision against Chris Namus, of Uruguay, in December 2018.