Claressa Shields Wanted to ‘Cut’ Coach Derik Santos

Three-division world champion Claressa Shields (14-0, 12 KOs) is undoubtedly one of the most skilled fighters in women’s boxing. Shields was recently involved in a sparring footage fiasco, which made fans doubt her skillset. In an Instagram Live, she revealed that she wanted to hurt coach Derik Santos after the sparring session.

On December 6, Latvian boxer Arturs Ahmetovs released a video of a sparring session between him and Shields. The footage from 2018 showed Ahmetovs sending her to the canvas with a well-placed left hook.

On the other hand, Shields took to Instagram to accuse the Ahmetovs and his coach, Santos, of removing the padding from his gloves.

“He’s talking of them, ‘these gloves were gifted by Roberto Duran to me. And I didn’t know that the padding was that much in there.’ The gloves and the padding has zero padding,” she said.

Shields further mentioned that she was angry at Santos for allowing Ahmetovs to “cheat” during the sparring session.

“I don’t give a f*ck about being dropped. But what I will say is, when a motherf**ker try to cheat me, you got me f**ked up. And yes, I ran to my car, and I grabbed my knife. And I was going to cut Derik Santos,” she said. “And guess who stopped me? Coach John.”

She also added she is not angry about getting dropped by Ahmetovs.

“She is full of sh*t”

Santos responded to Shields’ claims and mentioned that her trainer had checked the gloves before the session.

“She is full of sh*t. They asked for help to spar, so why would we want to spar a woman? No one took the padding out of the gloves,” he said.

Santos mentioned that he had even instructed Ahmetovs not to hit Shields hard. He even accused her of talking “mad sh*t” and fouling during the sparring session. So much so that she even tried tripping Ahmetovs while they were sparring.

In fact, according to Santos, Ahmetovs even tried to help her after he dropped her.

He also added that they had agreed to spar out of respect for Shields and had nothing to gain from a sparring session.

Joshua Ben Joseph

Joshua Ben Joseph is a Boxing writer renowned for his unparalleled coverage of live events and insightful interviews with prominent athletes in the world of combat sports. With a career spanning over several years, he has authored more than 800 articles. As an experienced editorial cartoonist and investigative journalist, Joshua has a keen eye for detail and a passion for delivering quality content. Aside from his writing, Joshua is an avid powerlifter and solo traveler, embodying the same spirit of determination and exploration that he brings to his work. With a deep love for the sport of boxing that dates back to childhood, he is committed to delivering the highest quality content and helping to build a more transparent and credible industry.

See author's posts