The awards and accolades keep coming for Claressa Shields.
The 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist and three-division undisputed champion has landed an ESPY Award for “Best Boxer,” knocking out a field of competition that included Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, and Shakur Stevenson.
The 28-year-old Shields (14-0, 2 KOs) was awarded the honor Tuesday in Hollywood, California during a preview segment for the annual Academy Award and Grammy-like show. ESPY Award nominees were originally announced on June 21.
The ESPY Awards – short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award – will be held live on July 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and broadcast on ABC at 8 p.m. EST.
Shields had a standout middleweight campaign in 2022, traveling to the United Kingdom to score unanimous decision wins and taking the titles away from then-undefeated fighters Ema Kozin and Savannah Marshall.
Most recently, Shields scored a shutout win against late-replacement opponent Maricela Cornejo on June 3. Shields was originally supposed to face Hanna Gabriels in her homecoming fight, but Gabriels was forced out after testing positive for a banned substance.
The Flint, Michigan native Shields was named the 2022 Female Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, an honor she also won in 2018.
Tyson Fury was the ESPY Award winner in 2021 and 2022.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.