“She has holes” – Kayla Harrison believes Claressa Shields will have a tough time being a boxer as wells as a mixed martial artist

“She has holes” – Kayla Harrison believes Claressa Shields will have a tough time being a boxer as wells as a mixed martial artist

Kayla Harrison and Claressa Shields

Claressa Shields, considered to be one of the greatest female boxers of all time. Shields who turned pro in November 2016, quickly rose through the ranks, and in only her fourth fight, won the WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles. She continued her winning run and went on to win the middleweight titles (WBC and IBF), and also the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO light-middleweight titles after beating Marie-Eve Dicaire in March 2021.

By doing so, she became the first boxer in history (male or female) to hold four major world titles in boxing. Her fame began to monumentally rise, and just a few months later, Shields expressed her desire to try her hand at MMA. On the 10th of June, 2021, Shields made her MMA debut at PFL 4 against Brittney Elkin and won the fight via. knockout in Round 3.

Elsewhere, fellow PFL women’s fighter, Kayla Harrison, considered to be one of the greatest female mixed martial artists in the world, weighed in on Claressa Shields making a switch to MMA. In the latest interview with Ariel Helwani in his MMA Hour show, Harrison claimed that she saw holes in Shields’ game, before going on to say that she would be having a hard time juggling both boxing and MMA at the same time.

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“I expected her to train for a little bit longer” – Kayla Harrison on Claressa Shields

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Kayla Harrison was quoted as saying, “She has holes. She has holes. I think they were expected, [but] I think I was surprised a little bit. I don’t know. My mentality was just always to be as prepared as possible for whatever challenge I get myself into. So I was surprised she took the fight so quickly after transitioning to MMA. I expected her to train for a little bit longer.” [via MMA Fighting]

She continued, “I think it’s a very tough task to be boxing and doing MMA at the same time. I think she’s going to have to devote a lot of time to her grappling game if she wants to be one of the best in MMA, and I don’t think she’s going to have time to do that if she continues to box professionally. So that’s my opinion.” [via MMA Fighting]

Harrison is set to face Genah Fabian of New Zealand in the PFL Playoffs semifinals. Although, this is considered to be Harrison’s toughest fight, she is the clear favourite going into the fight. The only advantage (quite a big one though) Fabian has is her height. She is 6 feet tall and can pose problems with her reach. Probably like an Amanda Nunes vs Megan Anderson matchup at UFC 259?

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