The absolute world boxing champion was knocked out by a "mean Lithuanian". The video garnered 6 million views per day

The legendary American boxer Claressa Shields, who was the first in the era of four belts to become the absolute world champion in two divisions, was knocked out in a sparring match by Lithuanian boxer Arturs Akhmetovs. The episode took place back in 2018, but Akhmetovs, who retired a few years ago, posted the video only now.

The video shows Shields running into a counterpunch and falling face first into the ring. The moment garnered more than 6 million views on social network X (formerly Twitter) in a day.

Shields herself reacted violently to the video's appearance on the Internet, accusing Akhmetovs of meanness

"One thing is for sure: if in 2018 I showed how this fellow professional boxer and boxing coach pulled the padding out of his gloves to spar with me because I had previously embarrassed him in the ring, it would jeopardize my future world title fight," Shields, 28, wrote in X.

Claressa admitted that in 17 years, no one had ever knocked her out.

"And here I was knocked out twice a week. I'm not ashamed of it. But for a male fighter who literally pulls the lining out of his gloves, he's an abomination. He and his trainer Derrick Santos are harmful to the sport," the boxer said.

According to the American, she now checks every glove of her sparring partners.

"People get offended that I do this now. But after I was knocked down by an offended guy because I had just taken him apart in the ring earlier, I've been checking gloves at every sparring match since 2018," Shields said.

The champion was outraged that the Latvian kept this video for so many years before publishing it.

"This coward kept this video for 5 years, the knockdown happened a week before I fought Hannah Gabriel. The same dude Arthur quit boxing after he was knocked out by Romero. I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want my opponent to have information about my fall before the fight," Claressa summarized.

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