The Claressa Shields version of events over a sparring knockdown video has been disputed by the coach she accused of glove tampering.
Shields says she got the better of Arturs Ahemtovs in the first session, but the padding was removed from the gloves for their second sparring.
The self-professed “GWOAT” then alleges she was dropped with the new gloves that were illegally deformed.
Derik Santos, the coach Shields states was behind the incident alongside Ahmetovs, has fired back and denied that entire story.
Santos also revealed that Shields brought up the knockdown first, leading to Ahemtovs releasing the video when he disagreed with the description.
Claressa Shields’ entire sparring version disputed
“Through the years, I have heard through a lot of fighters that she just keeps bringing that up. This is exactly what happened in an interview she gave at Canelo vs Charlo,” Santos told ProBox TV.
“She again brought that up, and not only did she bring it up, it was a blatant lie about how it happened. She is claiming that I got these doctored gloves from Roberto Duran.
“I have never met Roberto Duran in my life. I wish I did because he is a great fighter. She claims that she beat him up in the first sparring, which is why this happened.
“I actually have a round video from the first sparring where you can see he grabbed a pair of Greenhill safety amateur boxing gloves in the first sparring. You can clearly see him just working with her. It was good work.
“In the second sparring, he is just wearing normal sparring gloves. No professional boxer or even a boxer aspiring to be a professional boxer will wear Greenhill safety amateur gloves when they spar.
“Those are exactly for that, for they amateurs. It’s a brand that’s used for amateur boxing. He just wore regular 16-ounce gloves in the second sparring, which was a little more spirited than the first one.
“But again, I have a full round video of that because it was sent to me the other day by the young man [Ahmetovs] we are talking about.
“I asked him, I said, ‘Why don’t you just send me the whole thing as I don’t have these videos?’ – He said, ‘I went on my iCloud coach, and this was all that was on there.’
A full round of Shields vs. Ahemtovs spar exists
“This happened five years ago, so he sent me the full round. You can see the gloves. Clearly, you can see all the people that are in the gym.
“You can hear me say, punch her to the body. You can see him backing off of her at times. They did go at each other, and there were points that she threw hard at him, which was fine.
“It’s common for women to have to spare men. A good coach finds a male who knows how to work, so whatever chip she has on her shoulder about fighting a male, that’s on her.
“I have never had a relationship with her, but I would definitely never do something as gross or criminally dangerous as that. She is out there trying to defame my name,” he concluded.
Shields stated she would send out defamation letters to anyone sharing the video. However, it’s since gone viral many times over and appears on YouTube in several uploaded channels.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer and has been the Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
