Who is Arturs Ahmetovs? All you need to know about the male fighter who knocked out Claressa Shields in training

Arturs Ahmetovs grabbed headlines due to the controversy surrounding a video of him knocking out world champion boxer Claressa Shields. Ahmetovs is a relatively unknown figure among combat sports fans but has gained a lot of recognition lately and so, here is everything you need to know about him.

Arturs Ahmetovs is a Latvian professional boxer who competes in the super lightweight division. According to his BoxRec profile, he was born in Riga, Latvia and now resides in Delray Beach, Florida, USA.

Ahmetovs made his professional boxing debut with a knockout win over Demetrius Wilson in March 2019. After a five-fight undefeated run, the Latvian boxer suffered his first defeat against Rolando Romero in February 2020. He then bounced back with a win over Vladyslav Baranov in September of 2020, but has not competed professionally since.

Arturs Ahmetovs’s personal Instagram account mentions that he is open to boxing fight offers, which suggests that he has not retired, despite the inactivity. His profile also states that Ahmetovs is a five-time boxing national champion and a former kickboxing world champion. As of December 2023, Ahmetovs’s professional boxing record stands at 6-1 with two of those wins coming by T/KO.

Judging by Claressa Shields’ remarks on the now-infamous knockout video, Ahmetovs appears to have trained under coach Derik Santos, who runs the DS Boxing gym in Boca Raton, Florida. According to his official website, Santos has trained notable boxers like Maureen Shea, and Chris Algieri, as well as MMA fighters Vitor Belfort and Thiago Alves.

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What is the controversy surrounding Arturs Ahmetovs and Claressa Shields?

Claressa Shields is one of the most decorated female boxers of all time. She is undefeated with a 14-0 record as a pro and currently holds the undisputed light middleweight title. Although she is dominant in the professional circuit, the 28-year-old was knocked out by Arturs Ahmetovs while sparring in 2018.

The Latvian boxer posted a video of the knockout on his Instagram and it has since gone viral across all social media platforms, stirring up a lot of controversy in the process.

Claressa Shields fired back at Ahmetovs and said that he knocked her out on purpose to avenge the punishment she dished out in their previous training session. She has also accused Arturs Ahmetovs of removing the padding from his gloves, presumably to increase the impact of the punch that knocked her out.