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Maureen Shea Wants Her Overdue World
Title Shot After Outclassing Calista Silgado
Maureen Shea ended a two-plus year layoff Saturday,
outboxing Calista Silgado to a unanimous decision victory at
Carnesecca Arena at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y.
The scores were 79-73 on two cards and 77-75 on the third,
all for Shea (30-2-1, 13 knockouts), who continues her push
for a world title opportunity.
“The Real Million Dollar Baby” Shea looked as sharp as ever,
despite having not fought since January of 2020. Silgado
(19-14-3, 14 KOs) had her moments early on, but it was
Shea’s body punching and sublime defensive skills which made
the difference.
The victory was made even sweeter for the Bronx native Shea
because she was was fighting in New York City for the first
time since 2010.
“I felt great, I felt that this was where I belonged, I felt
very at home in the ring,” said Shea, a former two-time
boxing champion.
Shea says she wants a world title opportunity after being
unjustly denied one last year by the WBA, despite being the
no. 2 ranked contender for the vacant bantamweight title.
“These other girls can’t deny me, the sanctioning bodies
can’t deny me. The public is gonna want to see me. Who
doesn’t want to see that style and that kind of fight? It
would be doing the fans a big disservice. I deserve a
title,” said Shea, who is now based in Boca Raton, Fla.,
where she trains with boxing coach Derik Santos and strength
and conditioning coach Phil Daru.
Among the many Shea supporters in attendance was undisputed
women's super middleweight champion Franchón Crews-Dezurn,
who had designed Shea's ring attire for the fight.
Crews-Dezurn says she believes Shea has all the tools and
dedication to become a world champion again.
"Maureen is such an intricate part of women's boxing. She's
broken a lot of barriers and she's put in a lot of time,"
said Crews-Dezurn. "She's just an amazing boxer and I'm
honored I got to work with her."
Shea says she hopes to be back in the ring again within
three months.
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