“If Danielle don’t keep her hands up, she’s gonna get put on her back pockets.” Claressa Shields was full of confidence before her fight against Danielle Perkins on Feb 3. As expected the 29-year-old extended her undefeated record with a unanimous win over Perkins. The self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Woman of All Time‘ even said that she would beat Jake Paul as well if any male-female format were to exist. Talk about the confidence! But while a clash with the Problem Child seems far-fetched, Shields might soon find herself facing an even bigger challenge—this time, from a rising powerhouse in the UFC.

MMA Hall of Famer and former UFC champ, Cris Cyborg, who has collected belts from a plethora of MMA promotions like UFC, Bellator, and PFL, has revealed that she is now ready to dip her toes in boxing as well. You see, Shields and Cyborg were once training partners, but their relationship has since deteriorated.

Just three months back, Cyborg challenged Claressa to a cage fight. “I’m 10 years older and 30 pounds lighter but I will beat the breaks off the “GWOAT”: Goofiest Women of All Time in a real fight. My last fight was 145lbs. I will fight her inside the @PFLMMA cage at an open fight. Just sign the contract,” Cyborg said. However, Shields never fell into Cyborg’s traps as she knows her strength. “If she want to fight in boxing! Come on with it!” the 29-year-old fired back. It seemed like a dream matchup that would never happen—until Cyborg’s latest move suddenly reignited the possibility.

With Cyborg now open to stepping inside the ring for a professional fight, Claressa Shields seems like a great fight to make. “Now that I’ve got all the belts in MMA maybe it’s time I start adding some from Boxing…fight news coming this week,” Cris Cyborg wrote on X earlier today. It’s currently unclear who Cyborg’s opponent will be, but a fight against Shields would be the biggest draw considering the long-running feud.

In case Shields agrees to the fight, both boxers will have to come up with a weight class they are both comfortable with, especially since Shields is currently in the heavyweight division and Cyborg mostly fights at featherweight. But, maybe the two can fight at middleweight.

The good news is that Claressa Shields has previously expressed interest in Cyborg after a call out from the Brazilian.

Claressa Shields distances herself from MMA fight with Cris Cyborg but is open to a boxing match

During a December 2024 interview with Pound4Pound, Claressa Shields shut down any possibility of facing Cris Cyborg in an MMA fight but remains open to a boxing match against the former UFC women’s featherweight champion. Shields believes Cyborg is only calling her out for attention. “She wants the clout,” Shields said. “Ain’t nobody paying attention to no Cris Cyborg no more. She’s old, and I’m new. I’m popping right now.”

While Shields briefly competed in MMA, she acknowledges Cyborg’s experience, which gives her an overwhelming advantage inside the cage. “No, I’m not going to fight Cris Cyborg in MMA,” Shields said. “She’s got too much experience. I don’t have enough time to learn it.” However, in boxing, Shields is more than willing to fight.

“Boxing is a more fair sport. How is it more fair? In boxing, you’ve got your left and your right. In MMA, she’s got her left, her right, her elbows, her knees, her kicks, the ground game. All her experience in MMA, versus me who, I’ve only been doing MMA a year and a half, two years,” Shields added.

That said, while Cris Cyborg hasn’t explicitly called out Claressa Shields, both are running out of opponents and a fight between them could be on the horizon pretty soon. What do you think? Would you want to see the fight?

Claressa Shields only needed four words to speak volumes about Canelo Alvarez’s next fight in May.

In the early hours of February 7, it was revealed that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had signed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalskikh.

When discussing the details behind this first fight, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger wrote on X, “The first fight of Canelo’s four-fight deal, sources told ESPN, will take place May 4 in Riyadh that Sunday morning for a prime-time broadcast Saturday night in the U.S. Two names being considered for the Crawford tune-up: Jermall Charlo and Bruno Surace, who upset Jaime Munguia.”

The fact that Coppinger called this May bout a “tune-up” for a blockbuster fight between Canelo and Terence Crawford in September suggested that whether it be Charlo, Surace, or someone else who steps in there against Canelo in May, fans shouldn’t expect a major test.

Then on February 8, Turki Alalshikh revealed that Canelo would be fighting William Scull on May 3 in Riyadh in a fight that will be for the undisputed Ring, WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO super-middleweight world titles.

Scull is the current IBF super-middleweight champion and holds an undefeated 23-0 record with 9 KOs. Despite these seemingly impressive accolades, there’s little doubt that Canelo will enter this bout as a massive favorite, and should have little issue making easy work of the 32-year-old.

What’s for sure is that Scull is not at all a household name. And women’s boxing great Claressa Shields alluded to this when responding to Alalshikh’s X post by writing, “Who is William scull?”

Shields isn’t the only person who seems let down about Canelo’s first opponent for this four-fight contract.

But the bottom line is that Scull presents an opportunity for Canelo to unify the super-middleweight belts and shake any rust off before facing Terence Crawford.

It’s an inspirational sports movie about a young athlete with a rough background, beating the odds. So far, so predictable. But “The Fire Inside” is not your typical biopic.

It tells the incredible story of American boxer Claressa Shields who grew up in extreme poverty and went on to win two Olympic gold medals. The first one aged just 17. But it’s her fight for equal pay outside the ring that makes her story punch above its weight.

Claressa Shields is no stranger to making boxing history. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, she became the sport’s first two-division undisputed champion, male or female. It seems she has no intention of stopping there. The Flint, Michigan-born champion may now be aiming for the unprecedented achievement of becoming an undisputed champion in a third division.

Shields, who returned to MMA in February last year, surprised everyone with a move to the light heavyweight/heavyweight division. She fought Vanessa Lepage Joanisse for the WBO light heavyweight and WBC and WBF heavyweight titles. Latest reports suggest the five-division champion will begin the year with a title defense. Scheduled on February 2, she will face the Brooklyn-born heavyweight fighter Danielle Perkins. If Shields wins the fight, she could claim the historic undisputed title in the division and achieve a feat comparable to Oleksandr Usyk‘s, who ended a 25-year drought among men. But is the road so easy for Claressa Shields?

Claressa Shields is close to achieving a historic milestone

Sharing a few details about the tickets, Claressa Shields sounded excited about her return to the ring this February. “I’LL BE FIGHTING IN MY HOMETOWN OF FLINT, MI, ON FEB 2nd AT @dortfinancialcenter! Get your tickets now on Etix.com!” she said in her Instagram post.

Discussing the prospect of Shields joining the ranks of living legends like Oleksandr Usyk, her promoter, Dmitriy Salita, shared his thoughts with Sky Sports. “What sets Claressa apart from everyone else in boxing—past or present—is her groundbreaking achievements as a pioneer in women’s sports. She has been the first to accomplish many feats, breaking barriers and opening doors for equality while remaining utterly dominant in the ring,” said Salita in the exclusive conversation.

A victory over Perkins would significantly bolster Shields’ chances of achieving a feat yet to be accomplished. To date, women’s boxing has never crowned an undisputed heavyweight champion.

42-year-old Danielle Perkins, a former amateur world champion, turned professional four years ago. However, following the 2021 fight against Monika Harrison, she went on a long break and returned only in March 2024. Currently, she holds a professional record of five fights, with two victories achieved by early stoppages.

But the bigger question remains: will it be easy for Claressa Shields to claim the title of undisputed heavyweight champion?

Will the road to glory prove that straightforward?

The fight at Flint’s Dort Financial Center features the following heavyweight belts at stake: WBC, WBA (vacant), WBO (vacant), IBF (vacant), and WBF. However, in the four-belt era, the WBA must be part of the triumvirate of WBC, WBO, and IBF to make the title undisputed. Reportedly, the Panama-based World Boxing Association (WBA) has yet to award a heavyweight title to a female boxer.

An interesting anomaly has come to light. The poster featured on Shields’ Instagram referred to the February 2 battle as the ‘undisputed heavyweight world championship’. The one on the WBC website labeled it the ‘unified world heavyweight championship’.

Essentially, without the WBA belt, the fight with Perkins may be confined to the unified championship. However, some reports suggest that a workaround is being considered. There’s a possibility that the WBA may, as a first, establish the heavyweight division for women. Once the WBA enters the picture, Shields could potentially stake her claim and become the first-ever women’s undisputed heavyweight champion.

What’s your take? Between Perkins and Shields, who do you pick to win on February 2?

Shields is more than happy to fight the former two-division UFC champion inside the ring or the cage

The self-proclaimed GWOAT of boxing, Claressa Shields, recently revealed how former UFC champion Amanda Nunes played a role in her move to mixed martial arts.

Inside the squared circle, no woman has accomplished more than Shields. Aside from being a multi-time world champion in five different weight classes, she is one of only four boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO—in two weight classes. Shields is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, topping the podium at both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games.

After dominating the sweet science, Shields opted to trade in her eight-ounce gloves for a pair of four-ouncers, making her mixed martial arts debut under the Professional Fighters League banner.

Claressa Shields Isn’t Afraid to Fight Amanda Nunes, Whether It Be in the Ring or the Cage

During a recent appearance on The Art of Ward with boxing legend Andre Ward, Shields revealed the role that former two-division UFC queen Amanda Nunes played in getting her to make the move from the ring to the cage. Shields also made it clear that while ‘The Lioness’ holds an undeniable advantage in MMA, Nunes would get outclassed real quick in a boxing match between the two.

“I said, are y’all stupid? In a boxing match, I would destroy Amanda Nunes,” Shields said. “Let’s be real now. MMA? Pump your brakes. I’ve got to put in some years and years for that. But boxing? Stop playing with me—with my left and my right.”

So Amanda said, ‘Tell Claressa she’ll come to my world, and I’ll choke the [expletive] out of her.’ That’s what she said. And I said, ‘This girl thinks I’m scared of getting choked? You think I’m scared of fighting her?’ Yeah, I’m gonna show these girls. I fight—I will fight y’all, but y’all won’t fight me. It’s two different fights—apples and oranges. I will come over there and peel that orange, but you won’t come over here and bite this apple. It’s two different things.

So, for me, it was just to tug at them, make them mad, to show them. Like, I knew it was going to be hard, but I actually enjoy MMA.”

Shields is 2-1 in MMA after alternating wins and losses in her first three appearances. She came out on top in her PFL debut in June 2021, scoring a third-round TKO against Brittney Elkin. She followed that up with a closely-contested split decision loss against Abigail Montes before climbing back into the win column via a decision W over Kelsey DeSantis.

While Shields has spent a considerable amount of time training for her future in MMA, that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to kick ass inside the ring. In July, she scored a second-round TKO against Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to claim the WBC and WBF female heavyweight championships.

Published on January 6, 2025 at 10:21 pm