March 5, 2025
Claressa Shields Vacates Light Heavyweight Title As She Fights Marijuana Use Allegations
Shields opted to keep the heavyweight title that she earned last month.
Claressa Shields will remain the World Boxing Organization’s Female Heavyweight champion after vacating her light heavyweight title.
Shields was prompted to choose which of her two titles to keep as a WBO rule forbids boxers from holding multiple at once. WBO President Gustavo Olivieri shared the update on X on March 3.
Re: WBO Female Light Heavyweight Division
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) March 3, 2025
Be advised Claressa Shields has relinquished her WBO Lt.
Heavyweight title. Per our rules, NO WBO Champion may hold titles in two different weight divisions simultaneously. Therefore, Shields remains Champion in Heavyweight division.
“Be advised Claressa Shields has relinquished her WBO Lt. Heavyweight title,” Olivieri wrote. “Per our rules, NO WBO Champion may hold titles in two different weight divisions simultaneously. Therefore, Shields remains Champion in Heavyweight division.”
Shields opted to earn the vacant heavyweight title during a match against Danielle Perkins on Feb. 2. After an unanimous win over Perkins, the 29-year-old became the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Shields’ rise in boxing was the recent subject of the biopic The Fire Inside,. Ryan Destiny starred as the acclaimed boxer alongside Brian Tyree Henry. The film depicted her rise to winning an Olympic gold medal.
The Flint, Michigan, native currently has a 16-0 record with three knockouts.
However, Shields faced controversy after Michigan’s athletic commission stated that she tested positive for marijuana after her recent match. Despite the outcome, Shields said that she does not use the drug, which also is not performance-enhancing.
Instead, she believes the positive result may stem from second-hand smoke or close-contact with others on fight night. She discussed the incident on the Tamron Hall Show.
“The place reeked of marijuana,” Shields said of the fight’s site, the Dort Financial Center. “And then, before I got to do the mouth swab, everybody was hugging and kissing me in Flint. Everybody there—my cousins, sister, brother, friends—everybody was hugging and kissing me. And I know some boxers don’t stop and greet the fans, but I’m not one of them. I hugged and kissed everybody back.”
Currently, Shields remains prohibited from fighting in Michigan. With the threat of losing her newly-acquired belt looming, she has since appealed the suspension. According to a WBO notice, she has 30 days to clear her name.