“Even with all my accomplishments, it’s still not enough,” Claressa Shields reflects on the ignorance of female athletes in Boxing
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Claressa Shields with her boxing belts
Although she is now a promising MMA prospect, Claressa Shields doesn’t fade away from giving her opinion on Boxing even when she left the sport, more importantly at the top. Shields is a former 3-division champion and two-time Olympic champion. In a recent interview post the PFL press conference, Shields shed some harsh light on the state of women’s boxing.
Shields is not happy with how the sport of boxing treats the female counterparts. Like in her case, she felt undervalued for what she brought to the table. In an interview with Danny Segura from MMA Junkie, Claressa starts giving a brief talk about her upcoming bout with Abigail Montes and how she is willing to give a surprisingly tough match up to Montes, specifically going for headhunting into the fight.
Watch: Claressa Shields weighing on women’s boxing in an interview
Followed by this, Shields proceed with comparing women’s MMA and women’s Boxing, and how the former is way bigger and reputable than the latter. She is in awe of how women’s boxing, despite being longer, is way behind in its progression. She sees how the women are elevated on the sport of MMA to the main cards and main events.
However, Shields thinks the other way around for Boxing, “I think that in boxing, women have been never given the opportunity to be on the forefront, to be on the pay-per-view… or even co-main of a big card you know to grow our brands and stuff…”
She continues for claiming the boxing promotions to be sexist for not giving the opportunity in the first place for the women to make big numbers. Finally, she had something to state that resonated with her personally. “I feel that I did everything I could do in boxing to be that household name and get that million dollar check. Even with all my accomplishments, it’s still not enough. That just pissed me off in general.”
Now, Claressa has moved on from the sport of boxing and feels she has started becoming a household name for MMA, which makes her think that she should’ve started “MMA sooner.” Tune in to watch Shields for her second pro-MMA bout on October 27 under the Professional Fighters League (PFL) banner.
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)