Boxing

Claressa Shields Blasts Boxing Reporter Over Drug Suspension Claim

Claressa Shields clapped back at a boxing reporter's comment about her getting suspended due to a positive marijuana test.

Grant Young

Claressa Shields at the Premiere des Kino films The Fire Inside im DGA Theater.
Claressa Shields at the Premiere des Kino films The Fire Inside im DGA Theater. / IMAGO / Future Image

The boxing community was thrown into disarray last week after a reporter asserted on social media that pound-for-pound great Claressa Shields, "has reputedly failed a drug test for her most recent fight, rumored to be a PED test."

It has since come out that this was inaccurate, as Shields did not test positive for any PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs). Instead, the "GWOAT" tested positive for marijuana — although the trace amount that was found after a post-fight mouth swab suggests that the positive test was likely the result of second-hand smoke present in the arena of her last night.

Shields made her opinion of all these allegations extremely clear over social media on February 13.

Despite the positive test being due to marijuana, Shields has still been suspended by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) as a result, and therefore can't compete in her home state for the time being.

Boxing analyst Ariel Helwani discussed what's going on in Shields' situation on a February 20 episode of The Boys in the Back show, and clipped it off on social media with the caption:

Breaking:

Claressa Shields has been suspended from fighting in the state of Michigan and is being investigated after testing positive for...

Marijuana 🤔 (via @SkySportsBoxing).

This prompted a strong response from Shields, who replied to the post and wrote:

"This isn’t breaking. And it’s not a thinking face, it was marijuana, no PEDs. Also @arielhelwani it’s a temporary suspension til I go to trial for the very petite amount. I’ve never smoked weed."

While nothing in Shields' response asserts that anything Helwani said was inaccurate, she's clearly trying to ensure that no more false information circulates about this ongoing story.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.