Claressa Shields’ return to the boxing ring and debut in the United Kingdom is going to have to wait until 2022.
Shields and BOXXER, the promoter for the fight, announced Saturday that Shields’ defense of her IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight crowns against Ema Kozin will now take place Jan. 29 instead of the originally scheduled Dec. 11.
The Shields-Kozin matchup was the co-feature to the main event in Cardiff, Wales, between Chris Eubank Jr. and Liam Williams middleweight fight. The card is being moved due to what BOXXER is calling a shoulder injury to Williams.
This will be Shields’ first boxing match since March, when she defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire for the undisputed junior middleweight title in the headline bout of an all-women’s pay-per-view card in Flint, Michigan, she and her team had put together.
Since then, Shields has fought in mixed martial arts twice in the PFL, winning her debut and then losing her second fight in October.
That marked Shields’ first loss as a professional fighter. Shields (11-0, 2 KO) then returned to boxing training, signing a seven-figure deal with BOXXER and Sky Sports over the length of her agreement, which could be as many as three fights.
Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KO) last fought in May, when the 22-year-old knocked out Radana Knezevic in the second round.