Claressa Shields has taken aim at Arturs Ahmetovs after sparring footage showed Ahmetovs dropping the undefeated boxers.
Shields is 14-0 and the current WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, WBF, and The Ring female middleweight champion. She’s one of the faces of female boxing, but on Monday, a sparring clip of Shields being dropped by 6-1 male boxer Ahmetovs went viral.
‼️ Arturs Ahmetovs (6-1) has now posted this clip of himself flooring Claressa Shields in sparring in 2018. Shields responded: "He took padding out his gloves because I embarrassed earlier that week… For a male fighter to take the padding out, he’s a punk."
[🎥 Arturs Ahmetovs] pic.twitter.com/f86CaRWp6j
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 11, 2023
Following the clip being released, Claressa Shields took to X to release multiple tweets explaining the situation and accusing the boxer of cheating.
Shields gives her side of the story
In several tweets, Claressa Shields claimed Arturs Ahmetovs took padding out of his glove which led to her getting dropped.
“One thing for sure, if I went public 2018 about how this fellow professional boxer & boxing trainer took his padding out his gloves to sparr against me because I embarrassed him earlier that week, it would have jeopardized my upcoming world title fight…
“I’ve never been Ko’d in 17 years and I’ve been dropped 2x all in a week of each other. I have no shame in that. But for a male fighter to literally take the padding out his gloves, he’s a punk. Him and coach Derrick santos are bad for the sport!.. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want my opponent to have information of me getting dropped leading up to my fight. But why keep a video hidden for 5 years and you so big and bad. Fuck outta here.
“I have no problem getting caught in sparring it happens and I Sparr majority Men! But this dude Arthur and his coach Derrick santos were embarrassed and next time we sparred he purposely wore gloves with no little to no padding, I can’t make this up. I couldn’t believe it… Let me tell yall something. This coward has had this video for 5 years, the knock down happened 1 week before I fought against Hannah Gabriel’s. Y’all couldn’t wait to jump on this train, but I’m unbothered. This same dude Arthur quit boxing after being knocked out by Rollies.”
After several tweets, Claressa Shields then told all boxers to check their sparring partner’s gloves.
“Check your sparring partner gloves. People be offended that I do that now. But after being knocked down by a guy who was upset I pieced him up earlier that week, I do it every sparring session since 2018.”
As of right now, Arturs Ahmetovs has yet to respond to Claressa Shields claiming he took the padding out of his gloves.
