Claressa Shields says she showed off her “best” for her home crowd as she beat Maricela Cornejo in Detroit.
The unbeaten and undisputed middleweight title holder defeated her fellow American by an emphatic unanimous decision on Saturday.
The 28-year-old won at the Little Caesars Arena with a score of 100-89 on one card and 100-90 on the other two.
“You saw the best of me tonight, the only thing I could have done better… was get a knockout,” she said.
“I think I would have knocked a lot of girls out with the punches I landed. Maricela is smart and she’s tough.”
Shields had been scheduled to fight Hanna Gabriels, who knocked her down in 2018 before losing on a unanimous decision.
However, the Costa Rican tested positive for a banned substance and was barred from fighting, leading Cornejo to take the bout with just a week’s notice.
Two-time Olympic champion Shields has now won all 14 of her professional bouts, and her beaten opponent Cornejo was full of praise afterwards.
“You’ve created a movement in women’s boxing, and you really are the GWOAT [greatest woman of all time],” she said.
After a close-fought opening, Shields opened a cut over Cornejo’s right eye in the fifth round and dominated the remainder of the fight.
Shields said after her victory that she wanted to face Savannah Marshall or Franchon Crews-Dezurn next.
Briton Marshall, beaten by Shields in London last October, challenges American Crews-Dezurn for her undisputed super-middleweight world title in Manchester on 1 July.
