By Keith Idec

Claressa Shields easily eliminated any lingering doubts Friday afternoon about being able to make 160 pounds.

The IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion made weight without issue for her 160-pound title unification fight against Christina Hammer on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Atlantic City. Shields stepped on the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board’s scale at 159¼ pounds for their 10-round championship match.

Hammer, the WBO middleweight champion, also met her contractual obligation by weighing in at 159 pounds even at Ocean Resort Casino.

Odds-makers have installed Shields (8-0, 2 KOs), a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Flint, Michigan, as approximately a 3-1 favorite over Hammer (24-0, 11 KOs, 1 NC), of Dortmund, Germany. Hammer made it seem throughout the past few weeks that the odds were worse for Shields making weight because, according to Hammer, Shields was overweight for each of the WBC’s three unofficial weigh-ins during training camp.

“I think it’s just crazy because her last fight, she fought at 164 pounds,” Shields told Showtime’s announcers following the weigh-in. “She didn’t make weight, which was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know champions do matches like that.’ But whatever – she came in at 164. So, I can see her fear, like I’m the bigger girl. You know, but I’m just shorter than her, only by like a smidgen, too. Like they say she 5-11. Look, if she 5-11, I’m 5-10½. But from what I know, I’ve always been 5-9. But hey, whatever they wanna give me.

“But I never had a problem with making 160. I made 160 my last three fights easy. I have a nutrition team. I have a great coach. You know, I make sure I do everything I have to do. I might not have to say that I’m disciplined, but I’m quite sure that it shows. Every fight I’m dominant. I win every round. And I know that I make the fight the way I want it. So, whatever I’ll have to do to get the win against Christina Hammer, I’ll have no problem doing it.”

Shields, 24, and Hammer, 28, were supposed to square off November 17 at Boardwalk Hall. Hammer’s undisclosed stomach ailment caused them to postpone perhaps the most meaningful fight in women’s boxing history for nearly five months.

Their fight Saturday night will headline Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” tripleheader.

That 9:10 p.m. telecast will begin with a 10-round heavyweight match that’ll send Sweden’s Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs) into the ring against Baltimore’s Nick Kisner (21-4-1, 6 KOs). The 28-year-old Wallin weighed in at 227¼ pounds Friday, six-plus more than Kisner (221), who’s also 28.

The second televised bout will match Jermaine Franklin (17-0, 13 KOs), of Saginaw, Michigan, against Detroit’s Rydell Booker (25-1, 12 KOs) in another 10-rounder. Franklin, 25, weighed 245¼ pounds Friday, more than the 38-year-old Booker (238½).  

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.