Fresh off a successful defense of her undisputed heavyweight championship, Claressa Shields claims to have an eight-figure offer on the table for her preferred next opponent.
“I know that Wynn Records has the $15 million and it’s in escrow,” Shields told Uncrowned and DAZN’s “Ariel x Ade Show” on Wednesday. “If Laila [Ali] wants to fight for that [offer], it’s there. That’s what her price was and [what] she feels like she deserves, and we can make the fight happen.”
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Ali, the daughter of the legendary Muhammad Ali, retired as WBC super middleweight world champion in 2007 with a 24-0 professional boxing record. The 47-year-old hasn’t fought in 18 years and is 17 years older than Uncrowned’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer, the 30-year-old Shields.
With Ali’s inactivity and age, the point could be made that Shields has nothing to gain from fighting her. But Shields, the self-proclaimed “Greatest Woman Of All Time” (GWOAT), wants to prove that she deserves the title she has given herself — and believes that a win over Ali could do just that.
“My only motivation is to show her that you can’t beat me, and you damn sure can’t knock me out,” Shields said. “If we were to fight each other in our primes, I would’ve still won. I would’ve knocked her out. It’s more [so I can shut] her up. It’s a passing of the torch. I think that in every sport, especially in women’s boxing, the torch has to get passed. Either you want to pass it verbally, or the up-and-coming will take it. That’s just how it is.”
“She said she [doesn’t] need long to [prepare to] get in the ring and come back and beat me. I ain’t got enough power. I’m not big enough. I’m not skilled enough. Those are the words out of her mouth, so therefore I just ain’t s***, so she shouldn’t need all that [much] time.”
“Everybody is making all these excuses for her, but she’s sitting there and telling you that she’s in the gym, she’s training, [and] she [doesn’t have] all the wear and tear that I got on my body. She doesn’t have that because she hasn’t been inside the ring. But she said that she’s been training, and if you give her enough time and enough money, she would come back and she could beat me, she would knock me out.”
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Ali’s extended period outside of the ring, coupled with her aging body, is not a great combination. Fight fans have seen plenty of ex-boxers in their late 40s and even late 50s, in the case of Mike Tyson, come out of retirement to attempt to show that they still have something to offer. But Father Time waits for no man — or woman — and the performances more often than not make for difficult viewing.
Shields’ unanimous decision win over Lani Daniels this past weekend was the final fight in her promotional contract with Dmitry Salita’s Salita Promotions. The attendance for the bout was an impressive 15,366 spectators in Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. At a time when U.S. boxing appears to be running out of fighters that can sell out major arenas, Shields’ growing fan base makes her one of the top stars in all of American boxing.
“I just want to hear what everybody’s got to say. I know that it’s always been a myth that I can’t sell, that I don’t have fans,” Shields said. “Now [we know] that’s absolutely a lie. I can fight not only in Detroit, but fight anywhere in the world, and all my fans are going to come out and watch me fight, and I’m willing to fight against the best.
“Now that that’s understood, I think now that the price and my value have [gone] up. [There are] a lot of promotions that have shown me nothing but disrespect. Now that I’m a free agent, of course, I want to hear what are the deals and what’s the money [on offer] looking like from all these different people. I just need to weigh my options and talk with my team, and make the best decisions moving forward.”
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Shields told Uncrowned that Salita Promotions had a 30-day Right of First Negotiation following the expiration of their promotional deal, but Salita chose to waive that right, allowing Shields to speak to other promoters immediately.
“In my contract, it says [I can start speaking to promoters other than Salita] 30 days after the fight. It’s been three days, I’ve got 27 left,” she said. “But I’ve spoken with Salita, and he let me know that I can speak to other people and see what they’re offering and what they’re bringing to the table. Just not to lock in anything yet until after [the 30 days are over].”
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Shields’ relationship with Salita spans nine years. The two-time Olympic gold medalist entered the pro ranks with the ex-fighter turned promoter in 2016 — although she did not formally sign with the company until the following year. Shields is open to working with Salita in the future, but first wants to explore the market to find where the best opportunities may lie for her. The three-division undisputed champion believes that she still has yet to be paid her true value.
“I believe that I should be getting paid five, 10, 15 million a fight,” Shields affirmed. “The past couple of years, I’ve been able to get paid a million, [1.5 million], [1.8 million]. Now it’s like, how do I get that to three, five, 10 million?”
One option for Shields’ next move could be Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. MVP has quickly become the home of women’s boxing, and earlier this month staged the mega Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano trilogy bout that was watched by more than six million people on Netflix.
MVP also represents the unified super middleweight champion Shadasia Green, who defeated Savannah Marshall on the Taylor vs. Serrano 3 undercard. Shields’ best win is widely considered to be Marshall, and so Green could prove to be a worthy opponent for Shields, who has often struggled to find notable opposition.
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“I call bulls***. I’ve been wanting to fight Shadasia. She lost to Franchon [Crews-Dezurn]. Nobody wants to mention that, but that’s exactly what happened,” Shields said of Green. “The slight [against me was] this: She got over there with MVP and decided that I wasn’t the ‘Greatest Woman of All Time,’ when I’ve been in conversation with Shadasia since we were in the amateurs and she knows I’m the best boxer she’s ever been inside the ring with. … She gets with MVP and now everything changes — I’ve got pillow fists and I don’t knock [anyone] out. Therefore, when you’re disrespecting me, I’m going to disrespect you.”
“Shadasia knows — and I know — that I will whoop her ass. It’s not [disrespectful for] her to call me out. Thank you for calling me back out because I’ve been [calling] you out and I’ve been wanted to fight you. It’s more of a thing of, ‘Keep building your brand and get to where I am now,’ because when I was trying to give you the opportunity, you didn’t want it.”
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