The Champion Model

She's a model too! Featuring Christina Hammer today, who's fighting Claressa Shields this Saturday night in Atlantic City, NJ. Welcome to the 8th of a series of 10 blogs leading up to this historic night. 

Christina Hammer (24-0, 11 KO's) was born in Novodolinsky, Kazakhstan in 1990 and took up boxing when she was 13. As a youth, she also played soccer and swam, which she attributes to her "sporty family" life. Though undefeated as a pro, she did lose back as an amateur in 2008 in the finals of the German National Championships, garnering the Silver medal after her 14-13 loss to Nikolina Orlovic. Turning pro and relocating to Germany, she beat fellow debutante Molisa Koktar by TKO on September 12, 2009. She became the youngest boxer to win a WBO World Title when she decisioned Teresa Perozzi in 2010. The WBF belt came along next when Diana Kiss retired in their Championship bout in 2011. The WBC belt was added when she scored a UD over Kali Reis in '16. Lady Hammer has a 14-0 record in World Title fights with successful WBO and WBC defenses against Maria Lindberg, Gifty Amanua Ankrah and Tori Nelson. She also won the WBF and WBO World Super Middleweight crowns with her win over Zita Zatyko in 2013.

Anyone who is paying any attention to this fight knows that there's been a lot of yapping between the combatants; most of us know also that this is only the normal playful banter. The hype for this fight probably started when Hammer signed with Dimitriy Salita and Salita Promotions back in 2017, who also promotes Shields. It notched up quite a bit last August when both appeared on the same bill in Detroit; Shields fighting Hanna Gabriels and Hammer tangling with Nelson. Hammer jumped in to the ring when Shields was addressing the crowd post-fight, yelling and pointing her finger, and culminated in Shields giving Hammer a shove, shouting "I can't be beat!". 

At the international press conference that was held this past Monday, Christina said the trash talk "make this fight on fire!". She also answered questions about her health ("I'm stronger now"), saying that for this fight "I focus 100%, 110%". She also mentioned again what a big step this fight is for Women's Boxing and said that Atlantic City "is a very talked about city". "It feels very good (to be) in the US....It's time that these fights are coming for the whole world." When asked to describe herself in one word, the obvious answer was "Hammer!".

Oh yeah, about the model stuff. She is a long time model for Anita, a lingerie, sports bra and swimwear brand. She has her own inspired sports bra that she fights in.

Tomorrow: Two-time US Olympic Champion and World Champion Claressa Shields.

Bob Murray

TheWBR