Alicia Napoleon vs. Elin Cederroos WBA/IBF Title Unification Added To Shields vs. Habazin Card
A second women’s world title fight will air on Showtime in January.
Showtime announced that WBA super middleweight champion Alicia Napoleon will face IBF champion Elin Cederroos in a title unification on the January 10 Showtime card. The event will take place at the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Napoleon has been on a five-fight win streak ever since she suffered her first and only pro loss to Tori Nelson in December 2016. Napoleon won the WBA title with a win over Femke Hermans in 2018 and has successfully defended the belt with victories over Hannah Rankin and Schemelle Baldwin.
This will be Cederroos’ eighth pro bout and first title defense since winning the belt back in March which was also a win over Hermans. Cederroos is coming off a third-round knockout win over Florence Muthoni on November 22.
The card will be headlined by Claressa Shields vs. Ivana Habazin for the vacant WBO and WBC junior middleweight titles. The fight was originally planned for August with only the WBO title on the line but it was postponed due to Shields injuring her right knee in June. The fight was then rescheduled for October 5 in Flint, Michigan, but at the weigh-ins that took place a day before, there was an altercation that led to James Ali Bashir, Habazin’s trainer, to being hospitalized and the fight altogether being scrapped.
Also scheduled for the card is a WBA “Regular” junior welterweight title eliminator between Shohjahon Ergashev and Keith Hunter.
