Claressa Shields floored by Arturs Ahmetovs during sparring
Three-weight world champion Claressa Shields has reacted to footage of her being knocked down in sparring angrily.
A clip is circulating on Twitter, showing 28-year-old Shields being dropped by a left hook during a sparring session with 34-year-old Arturs Ahmetovs.
Both boxers miss with a one-two, then they each throw a left hook as part of the three-punch combination, with Arturs landing cleanly to stun Shields and send her down.
She responded to the footage by accusing Ahmetovs of cheating: "I've never been KO'd in 17 years and I've been dropped [twice] all in a week of each other. I have no shame in that.
"But for a male fighter to literally take the padding out of his gloves, he's a punk. Him and coach Derrick Santos are bad for the sport!"
Latvian Arturs Ahmetovs (6-1, 2KO) trains in Delray Beach, Florida. The European's only career defeat came at the hands of WBA World super-lightweight champion Rolly Romero in February 2020. Ahmetovs was 5-0 at the time and Rolly was 10-0.
WBO World welterweight champion, Sandy Ryan, was quick to side with her fellow female fighter, tweeting: "He's a bum for posting this."
Fans were skeptical of Shields' accusations:
"Then she came out with the ol' Wilder excuse"
"Nah this is what happens when women challenge men"
"Could've beat Thurman huh…"
"I hope she stops calling out men fighters now"
"Why is she in the ring with a man?"
"Who tf fixing gloves for a sparring session?"
BBN's Editor, Tim Rickson, added his thoughts, "Firstly, I'm not comfortable seeing male and female boxers sparring each other. And, it's definitely not on to share sparring clips like this, it should stay in the gym. However, I don't believe there's any shame in getting dropped in sparring, so Claressa has no need to feel bad about this. Training is the place where you learn, try things out and make mistakes – all for fight night, which is where it's most important. Of course, no one wants to hit the canvas at any time, but better that it happens in the gym than anywhere else. Lastly, I can't quite believe a male boxer would remove padding from his gloves for a sparring session with a female. It's a very serious accusation, especially when dragging coach Derrick Santos into it too, so she needs to be able to back that up with facts. To throw that kind of statement out there is particularly damning and could tarnish Arturs' reputation forwever. I think you should have hard evidence first, before calling something like that out."
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