The event on June 2, 2023, marked the first boxing card ever staged at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena and served as another successful homecoming for Shields.
Initially, Claressa Shields (13-0) was preparing for a rematch with Costa Rica’s Hanna Gabriels (21-2-1), the one woman who had accomplished something no other boxer had managed to do inside a professional ring: knock her down. Their first encounter in 2018 had produced one of the most memorable moments of Shields’ career when Gabriels floored the future Hall of Famer in the opening round before ultimately losing a unanimous decision.
The rematch seemed logical. The first fight had history, intrigue, and a lingering question. Could Gabriels duplicate her success five years later?
Unfortunately, the bout unraveled less than two weeks before fight night.
Gabriels was removed from the card following the results of a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association test administered under the WBC Clean Boxing Program. Promoter Dmitriy Salita and the event organizers quickly pivoted, securing ranked contender Maricela Cornejo as a replacement.
For Gabriels, it was a painful setback. She steadfastly denied intentional wrongdoing and maintained that the substance entered her system inadvertently through medication administered to her dog. The matter became one of the more unusual anti-doping stories in recent boxing memory. Although the rematch with Shields disappeared, Gabriels ultimately returned to active competition after the case was resolved, allowing her career to continue.
By June of 2023, Shields had assembled one of the most extraordinary résumés in boxing history. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, she had become the first boxer—male or female—to win undisputed championships in two weight classes during the four-belt era. She entered the Cornejo fight undefeated and already owned victories over Hanna Gabriels, Christina Hammer, Ivana Habazin, Marie-Eve Dicaire, Ema Kozin, and Savannah Marshall.
Shields was only 28 years old.
Maricela Cornejo, a Mexican-American and a native of Prosser, Washington, entered professional boxing without the extensive amateur pedigree enjoyed by Shields. She turned pro in 2015 and quickly found herself fighting for world titles. In only her sixth professional bout, she challenged Kali Reis for a middleweight championship and lost a razor-thin split decision. Later she twice challenged Franchón Crews-Dezurn for major titles at super middleweight, coming up short both times.
Cornejo’s record entering the Shields fight stood at 16-5 with 6 knockouts. More importantly, she had won three straight bouts and was ranked among the leading contenders at middleweight. Though stepping in on short notice, she was hardly an unknown quantity.
Cornejo boxed intelligently during the early rounds. She used movement, worked behind her jab, and attempted to disrupt Shields’ rhythm. For brief moments, she found success with right hands as Shields studied her timing.
By the middle rounds, Shields had established complete control. Her superior hand speed, combination punching, and ability to transition from offense to defense created a widening gap. In the fifth round she opened a cut over Cornejo’s right eye. In the seventh she landed a series of combinations that nearly produced a stoppage.
Although Cornejo remained game and durable, she wasn’t doing enough to win rounds.
After ten rounds the scorecards reflected the reality inside the ring: 100-89 and 100-90 (2x). It was one of the most dominant championship performances of her career.
“You saw the best of me tonight,” Shields said afterward. “The only thing I could have done better than I did tonight was get a knockout.”
Cornejo’s post-fight remarks were notable for their grace. “You’ve created a movement in women’s boxing, and you really are the GWOAT,” she told Shields in the ring.
For Shields, the fight reinforced her position atop the women’s pound-for-pound hierarchy. Coming less than eight months after her landmark victory over Savannah Marshall in London, the Cornejo fight demonstrated that Shields remained not only the most accomplished fighter in women’s boxing but perhaps its most reliable attraction. It was another hometown triumph for the fighter who had spent years insisting Detroit deserved major boxing events. ()
The victory also served as a bridge to the next chapter of her career. Within a year, Shields would move up in weight and continue adding championships and accomplishments to a résumé that already looked Hall of Fame worthy.
For Cornejo, although she fell short in her fourth attempt at a major world title, she emerged with increased visibility and respect, and she continued pursuing competitive fights.
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