Shields stops Scott in sixth, targets Price after middleweight return

Claressa Shields stopped Kaye Scott in the sixth round on Sunday in Atlanta to reclaim the WBA and WBC middleweight titles. The victory marked Shields' return to middleweight after 2023 and moved her professional record to 19-0.

Shields, a five-division world champion, dropped three weight classes to face 42-year-old Australian Kaye Scott. Scott was in just her eighth professional bout, and the stoppage was the fourth of Shields' career.

"It was a hard camp," said Shields, an Olympic champion in 2012 and 2016. "I always tell myself that everything is easy work, but it was a really hard camp. "I cut 38 pounds. I started 14 weeks ago at 198 and then I got down to 160. "It was the most disciplined I've been since the Olympics."

Shields was dominant from the outset, using hand speed and accuracy to control the contest before a flurry of body shots in the fifth left Scott weakened. In the sixth, Shields put Scott on the ropes with a left hook and unleashed a barrage; as a dazed Scott failed to defend herself her corner threw towels into the ring to end the bout.

Shields holds all four heavyweight titles and, after the win, named other potential opponents. The 31-year-old mentioned compatriot Mikaela Mayer and Canada's Tamm Thiebault as possible match-ups, with Thiebault described in the post-fight discussion as holding the IBF, WBO and Ring middleweight belts.

"She's only had five fights as a professional, but she's got belts," Shields said of Thiebault. "It's not my fault these girls don't have the experience that I have. She's got a belt that I know belongs to me – and that's the Ring belt."

Shields suggested welterweight champion Lauren Price should be her next opponent, aiming for a meeting in December or January.