WBO Championship Committee Resolution Designating Claressa Shields as WBO Female Super Champion

The present ruling is issued upon a petition filed on Wednesday, June 19th 2019, by Mr. Dmitriy Salita of Salita Promotions on behalf of Undisputed WBO, WBA, WBC & IBF Female Middleweight Champion of the World Ms. Claressa Shields, whereby official designation as WBO Female Super Champion is requested.

The WBO World Championship Committee having reviewed the foregoing request, considered WBO Participant Shields’ distinguished amateur record and professional accomplishments including, having fulfilled a historic achievement by unifying all four major Female Middleweight Championship Titles from the recognized sanctioning organizations (WBO, WBA, WBC & IBF), in just nine (9) professional fights, in light of the aforementioned, and in accordance with our governing rules and regulations, their applicability, and enforcement, and having been fully advised in the premises, it is hereby determined as follows:

WHEREAS, in 2012, Ms. Shields won a Gold medal for United States of America (USA) Olympic team at the Middleweight Division, in London, United Kingdom. It was the first time international competition recognized Olympic Female Boxing; and,

WHEREAS, in 2016, Ms. Shields won a Gold medal for the United States of America (USA) Olympic Team at the Middleweight Division, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields is the first American boxer female or male to win consecutive Olympic medals; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields is the first American women to win an Olympic Gold medal in boxing; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields finished her decorated amateur record with seventy-seven (77) wins, with only one (1) loss and eighteen (18) if said wins by way of knockout; and,

WHEREAS, on Saturday, November 19th 2016, Ms. Shields made her professional female boxing debut facing Ms. Franchon Crews Dezurn, winning via Unanimous Decision (UD); bout held at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on Friday, March 10th 2017, Ms. Shields fought her second professional bout and won the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) Female Middleweight Championship against Ms. Szilvia Szabados winning via Technical Knockout (TKO) in round four (4); bout held at the MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on Friday, June 16th 2017, Ms. Shields in just her third professional bout, won the Vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Female Super Middleweight Championship by defeating Ms. Sydney LeBlanc via Unanimous Decision (UD); bout held at the Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on Friday, August 4th 2017, Ms. Shields fought for the Vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Female Super Middleweight Championship against former IBF and WBC Female Super Middleweight Champion Ms. Nikki Adler (16-0-0), winning via Technical Knockout (TKO) in round five (5); bout held at the MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields became a Unified Female Super Middleweight Champion from two of the major recognized sanctioning organizations in just her third professional fight; and,

WHEREAS, on Friday, January 12th 2018, Ms. Shields defended successfully her Unified Female Super Middleweight Championship Titles against former World Boxing Council (WBC) World Female Middleweight Champion Ms. Tori Nelson (19-2-3), via Unanimous Decision (US); bout held at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, New York, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on Friday, June 22nd 2018, Ms. Shields made history in just her sixth (6) professional bout in becoming a two-division Female World Champion upon winning the Vacant WBA & IBF Female Middleweight Championship Contest against former Unified Female WBO & WBA Jr. Middleweight Champion Ms. Hanna Gabriels (18-1-1); bout held at the Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on November 17th 2018, Ms. Shields successfully defended her Female Unified WBA & IBF Middleweight Championship Titles and also, won the Vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Female Middleweight Championship against Ms. Hannah Rankin via Unanimous Decision (UD); bout held at the Kansas Star Arena, Mulvane, Kansas, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on December 8th 2018, Ms. Shields successfully defended her Female Unified Middleweight Championship Titles against former WBO Female Super Middleweight Champion Ms. Femke Hermans (9-1-0) winning via Unanimous Decision (UD); bout held at the Stubhub Center, Carson, California, USA; and,

WHEREAS, on December 17th 2018, the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) selected Ms. Shields as the 2018 Female Boxer of the Year; and,

WHEREAS, on April 13th 2019, Ms. Shields made history in just her ninth (9) professional bout by successfully defeating then-undefeated (24-0-0) and former Unified Female WBO & WBC Middleweight Champion Ms. Christina Hammer via Unanimous Decision and becoming the Undisputed Female WBO, WBA, WBC, and IBF World Middleweight Champion; bout held at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New York, USA; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields currently holds a perfect professional record consisting of nine (9) wins with no losses and no draws; and,

WHEREAS, the total combined record of Ms. Shields’ opposition consists of one-hundred ten (110) wins, sixteen losses (16) with five (5) draws; and,

WHEREAS, in just nine (9) professional bouts Ms. Shields became a Two-Division Female Unified World Champion; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields is one of the only seven boxers in history, female or male to hold all four of the major recognized sanctioning organizations championship titles (WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF) along with Bernard Hopkins, Jermaine Taylor, Ms. Cecilia Braekhus, Terrence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk and Katie Taylor; and,

WHEREAS, on Wednesday, June 19th 2019, Mr. Dmitriy Salita of Salita Promotions on behalf of Undisputed WBO, WBA, WBC & IBF Female Middleweight Champion Ms. Claressa Shields, filed a petition officially requesting designation of Ms. Shields as WBO Female Super Champion in consideration of the foregoing amateur and professional accomplishments; and,

WHEREAS, the petition arises upon Ms. Shields continuous desire in accomplishing history in different weight divisions specifically, vying in her next professional bout the WBO Female Jr. Middleweight Championship Title; and,

WHEREAS, said request was forwarded to this Committee for consideration and ruling accordingly based upon all the foregoing amateur and professional accomplishments stated herein, and in accordance with the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests, specifically, those provisions relevant with the WBO Super Champion Status recognition; and,

WHEREAS, This Committee having carefully examined, reviewed and considered all the foregoing accomplishments of Ms. Shields, and pursuant with this Committee’s full authority as per our WBO Rules and Regulations of World Championship Contests to resolve any and all matters with the following being within our powers and discretion, and shall be interpreted to include any or all powers necessary, helpful or convenient to accomplish the purpose, policies and the intent of these rules; and,

WHEREAS, Section 14 of the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests provides as follows:

SECTION 14. SUPER CHAMPIONS

(a) “ It is the policy of the World Boxing Organization to encourage its Champions to pursue recognized status as undisputed World Championship and to unify the Championships of the four major world sanctioning organizations (the WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF) . A World Champion who has achieved preeminent status may require and be entitled to additional scheduling flexibility to achieve his place in boxing history and for the good of the sport .”

A boxer may be considered for designation for Super Champion status when he meets the following criteria:

(1) The boxer presently or previously has or had a multiple bout contract with a major television network or other similar broadcast company for multiple years; and,

(2) As a WBO Champion,

(A) The boxer has successfully defended his title cumulatively a minimum of ten (10) title bouts, or;
(B) In the event of less than ten (10) successful defenses has defended his title against opponents of high recognition and high skills; and,
(C)“ Has substantially met the other standards set forth herein .”

(3)“ The boxer’s amateur history will be considered; and, ”
(4) The quality of prospective Super Champion’s record including the quality of his opponents and their records will be considered.
(5) Additionally, the following factors will be considered in determining Super Champion designation:

(A) If the prospective Super Champions has been a WBO World Champion in more than one (1) weight division;or      (B)“If the Prospective Super Champion has held more than one (1) Championship of the four major world sanctioning organizations; or”
(C)“If the prospective Super Champion has unified the Championships of more than one (1) of the four (4) major world sanctioning bodies.”
(D) Current champion status is not required to qualify or continue as a Super Champion.
(E) The Championship Committee may recommend Super Champion status for the boxer to the Executive Committee, if a boxer has substantially complied with the conditions set forth herein. Super Champion status shall be determined by the vote of the Executive Committee.

(F) PRIVILEGES AFFORDED SUPER CHAMPIONS. Those fighters recommended by the Championship Committee and approved by the Executive Committee qualify for the following rights and privileges:

(1) EXTENSION OF MANDATORY TITLE DEFENSE
The Championship Committee may extend a Super Champion’s mandatory title defense for good cause shown mandatory title defense for good cause shown one or more times beyond the time provided for in the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests for the purpose of giving a Super Champion opportunity or opportunities to unify the titles of more than one major sanctioning body either in a unification bout or a unification tournament, or any other important match or matches that the Committee determines would contribute to the Super Champion’s legacy or would be of great interest to boxing fans.

(2) ELIGIBILITY TO BE CONSIDERED FOR DESIGNATION AS THE MANDATORY CHALLENGER IN HIGHER OR LOWER DIVISION.
“If requested by a Su per Champion, the Championship Committee may designate the Super Champion as the Mandatory Challenger for the immediate higher or lower division .”

(3) ELIGIBILITY TO BE CONSIDERED FOR DESIGNATION AS THE MANDATORY CHALLENGER IN THE SAME DIVISION
If requested by a Super Champion who has lost his title and who wishes to fight for the title again, the Championship Committee may designate the Super Champion as the Mandatory Challenger in the Super Champion’s division.
(4) An Honorary member of the WBO for life

(e) PURSE BID
(1) In case of a purse bid involving a contest between contestants one or more whom are WBO Super Champions, or a contest between a current WBO Champion and another current WBO Champion or a contest between a WBO Champion and a WBO Interim Champion, or a contest between two Interim Champions he following rules shall be applied in conjunction with the purse bid rules contained in the WBO Regulations for World Championship Contests; these provisions concerning the division of purse bids shall supersede the rules for division of purse bids contained within Section 13 of these WBO Rules, “DIVISION OF PURSE for CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD PURSUANT TO PURSE BID”

(2) In any of the situations described in Section 14(e)(1) above and a purse bid takes place, the division shall not be greater than 80/20 in any case and shall be calculated by the Championship Committee using a ratio based upon the average purse of each fighter’s last three (3) fights. The WBO may rely upon the purses reported to the WBO on the WBO Participant’s Promoter’s receipts for the fights that are used to calculate the Purse Division for this purpose. By way of example, if contestant A has had his last 3 purses of $1,000,000, $500,000, and $400,000 (a total of $1,900,000) and contestant B has had his last 3 purses of 1,000,000, $2,000,000, and $2,500,000 (a total of $5,500,000), the purse division would be $1,900,000/$7,400,000 or 25.68% for contestant A and $5,500,000/$7,400.00 or 74.32% for contestant B. If by way of further example, if contestant A has had his last 3 purses of $500,000, $400,000, and $300,000 (a total of $1,200,000) and contestant B has had his last 3 purses of 1,000,000, $2,000,000, and $2,500,000 (a total of $5,500,000) the purse division would be 20% for contestant A and 80% for contestant B (as the ratio of the purses is $1,200,000/$6.700,000 or 17.91% for contestant A to $5,500,000/$6,700,000 or 82.09% for contestant B and the purse division cannot be more that 80/20.

(f) LOSS OF PRIVILEGES

(1) All Super Champion privileges referred to in Section 14(d) shall be terminated in the event (a) a Super Champion violates any of the WBO Rules and Regulations, (b) for unsportsmanlike conduct or activities unbecoming to a professional boxer, (c) for drug abuse (of either illegal drugs or performance-enhancing drugs), or (d) conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.

(2) The Super Champion Privileges referred to in Section 14(d)(1) to 14(d)(3) shall be terminated in the event of the loss of any boxing contest unless the World Championship Committee recommends that Super Champion status be retained and a majority of the WBO Executive Board resolves that Super Champion status be retained.

WHEREAS, the WBO World Championship Committee having considered Ms. Shields decorated amateur record, having reviewed her exceptional professional record whereby in just nine (9) professional fights of her young career Mr. Shields has accomplished a milestone both in the professional ranks; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields won two consecutive Olympic Gold medals during her amateur career, became a Two-Division Female World Champion (Middleweight and Super Middleweight), and became the Undisputed WBO, WBA, WBC & IBF Female World Middleweight Champion; and,

WHEREAS, Ms. Shields substantially meets the criteria set forth in our WBO Super Champion Status provision and therefore, warrants consideration for such designation; thus, this Committee rules as follows:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the WBO Championship Committee pursuant to the WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests as follows: The WBO World Championship Committee hereby recommends to the WBO Executive Committee official designation of Ms. Claressa Shields as WBO Female Super Champion in accordance with the foregoing.

This is a final decision of the WBO Championship Committee. The affected WBO participant may appeal such determination to the Complaint and Grievance Committee as per Rule 34, which as per Rule 3(e) of the WBO Appeals Regulation, must be submitted in writing to the WBO President within fourteen (14) days of this decision as its sole and exclusive remedy.

Dated in San Juan, Puerto Rico on this 24th day of June 2019
WBO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMMITTEE

By: Luis Batista Salas, Esq.
Chairman Championship Committee