Multiple-time undisputed champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields put men’s boxing on notice when she recently called out the difference between the athletes in the women’s game as “not scared to fight each other.”
“Just to stir the pot! Yes womens boxing has a smaller pool of women…SURE! (I’m agreeing to disagree) BUT ATLEAST WE NOT SCARED TO FIGHT EACHOTHER! The men have a small of A CLASS FIGHTERS! They don’t ever fight each other.”
Just to stir the pot! Yes womens boxing has a smaller pool of women…SURE! (I’m agreeing to disagree 😜) BUT ATLEAST WE NOT SCARED TO FIGHT EACHOTHER! The men have a small of A CLASS FIGHTERS! They don’t ever fight each other 🗣️🗣️ #WOMENRUNBOXING
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) February 5, 2023
Set It Off
Her statement set up a tweetstorm from male boxers and fans that wanted to keep the debate going. The world is still disappointed that the two best welterweights on the planet, Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, are not agreeing to a fight. With the possibility of Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Ryan Garcia slowly fading from promoter and broadcast squabbles, Shields’ point is being made by proxy.
Damn what we do to y’all 😂 https://t.co/8FtxRX61Bx
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) February 5, 2023
“Damn what we do to y’all,” former two-division world champion Shakur Stevenson tweeted back with a laughing-crying emoji.
Other world champions felt the need to educate Shields on men’s challenges in the sport.
Men aren’t scared to fight each other champ, there are many factors that hold big fights up. Promoters, networks, money, but any1 getting in that squared circle isn’t afraid of anyone. Women have a smaller pool which make it easier to make fights, Im glad the best fight the best
— Ishé Oluwa Kamau Ali Smith (@IsheSugarShay) February 5, 2023
“Men aren’t scared to fight each other champ, there are many factors that hold big fights up,” said former IBF middleweight champion Ishè Smith. “Promoters, networks, money, but any1 getting in that squared circle isn’t afraid of anyone. Women have a smaller pool which make it easier to make fights, Im glad the best fight the best.”
The GWOAT
Last October, Claressa Shields avenged the only loss in her illustrious career in fantastic fashion when she took a unanimous decision over Savannah Marshall at the O2 Arena in London, becoming the undisputed world middleweight champion again.
Marshall gave Shields her lone blemish in the amateurs ten years ago, kicking off the Shields-Marshall rivalry in the 2012 amateur world championships. Marshall went on to win the world championship a few days later; however, Shields won the Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games as Marshall was eliminated early in the tournament.
Now Shields has defeated Marshall as a pro and erased any doubt that she is her generation’s best women’s boxer.
“It’s not just a special moment for me, it’s a special moment for women’s boxing,” Shields said in a postfight interview in the ring. “Savannah Marshall, Alycia Baumgardner, Mikaela Mayer, Caroline Dubois. I mean, women’s boxing has been around for so many years and many great things happened before us.
“But here we are, in front of 20,000 fans in London at O2 Arena, and I think that’s fight of the year. I’m just so happy and it’s an unbelievable moment right now.”
The Undisputed’s
This month, Alycia Baumgardner became the undisputed junior lightweight champion, cementing that women have been pushing the envelope with many fighting for undisputed, holding all the belts. From Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor’s historic undisputed lightweight championship fight that is now the first women’s boxing match to sell out Madison Square Garden to Claressa Shields promoting all women’s boxing cards, the women of boxing want to be heard and equal to the men’s game.
They can only hope that the world is paying attention, like the women’s game in MMA.
