For those who don’t know, Claressa Shields, the five-division champion’s punches extend outside boxing. Though she hasn’t fought an MMA fight since a split decision win over Kelsey DeSantis in February last year, she did fight two bouts against Brittney Elkin (W) and Abigail Montes (L) in 2021. All these fights were PFL events, all ending in 3 rounds. T-Rex stood at a record of 2-1-0 with team Jackson-Wink MMA, and that’s about all the time she wanted to spend in the sport.
Just hours ago, the undisputed heavyweight champion announced on the Canadian-American journalist, Ariel Helwani’s show, that she doesn’t quite want to continue fighting in MMA anymore. In the background drama with both men and women boxers, like Jake Paul, Alycia Baumgardner, and Amanda Serrano, the 30-year-old was expected to call out the MMA legend Chris Cyborg next. But to some fans’ dismay, she’s not going to anymore. And, her relationship with rapper Papoose has a part in her decision as well.
You see, the boxing outlet Uncrowned on Instagram, posted a clip from The Ariel Helwani Show where the undefeated 16-0 boxer opened up about a lot of things in a casual conversation with host Helwani. “Claressa Shields is officially done with MMA#HelwaniShow,” @uncrowned captioned the post. For the post itself, it was split into the section about Shields’ MMA talks from the YouTube video, and an image of her punching her opponent Elkin in the GWOAT’s first bout from the sport.
Helwani only had to bring up the word MMA, and Shields took the weight off her chest in a blink—”MMA is done, sweetheart. We’re done. That’s it. Two and one. Winning record. It was fun.” The way she said it made it look like she had been sitting with that thought for a while now. And, looking for the correct time, she let her fans know about the choice to drift out of MMA. “I don’t have enough time to train for it…It takes six months, eight months to just get ready to defend takedowns. And even though I got a lot better…my arm [got] broken twice,” said Shields, having her reasons.
Continuing, she even revealed deeper justifications. “One, my family never wanted me to do it. I did it because I wanted to prove a point…I proved that point…I got my new relationship, and he can’t even handle me boxing. Like, he’s going crazy when I’m fighting, even though I’m dominating,” said the tough girl. “So, we had a talk, and he was like, ‘I cannot handle MMA.’
He was like, ‘If you don’t do anything else for me, could you please just not do that anymore?’”
So, Shields agreed to her lover’s concerns and decided to drop out of the whole thing, considering she would need to put in a lot of time and leave behind an established career where she already remains at the top. To this, fans reacted in a very mixed way.
Claressa Shields receives praise and laughs
One of the supporters wrote, “ it was so fun watching @claressashields grow in MMA but I definitely don’t blame her for being done with MMA either I’m kinda curious to know the difference in her pay from boxing to mma Claressa you are the baddest woman on this planet HANDS DOWN,” wanting to compare the PFL pays $1 million to the players for each title defense, to Shields’ earnings in boxing fights where in the most recent one against Danielle Perkins, she made $1.5 million in the purse, according to USA Today.
Another fan wrote, “Respect to the GWOAT for doing anything in MMA. She did something men boxers wouldn’t dare do. She did it at the height of her career. You can not take anything from her.” This was an appreciation for Shields and a nod to boxers like James Toney, who once expressed a willingness to fight in MMA, but didn’t.
Then, acknowledging the Flint native’s prowess in boxing and the risks of fighting in MMA, one more commented,“It wouldn’t make sense for her to not stay in a sport where she makes more money and a lot shorter list of injuries that aren’t even a possibility in boxing. Like she probably would’ve never broken her arm. But most MMA fighters get injured in training way more than fights”
Agreeing to that but contrasting with Shields’ decision, one of the critics wrote, “More money in boxing for her. Like she said not enough time to train. Now if they were giving her millions to fight I bet she’d make time and tell honey boo boo to suck it up. Also, who says that to their lady about not fighting. That’s too much. To each their own.” From their perspective, it was about more money, and suddenly, the players would want to get their limbs injured.
Then, calling it Shields’ bluff, another harsh critic went on like, “Wtf point did she prove. Bruh female boxing is dead just go full on MMA. If she does that and can get a world title bruh then she will be the GOAT.” Even if MVP Promotions is hosting an all-women’s boxing card scheduled for July 11 this year at Madison Square Garden in New York, some still believe that women’s boxing does not compare to men’s dominance in the sport. Sure enough, there is still a big gap to fill as the purses are gender-biased.
Taking direct shots at the greatest woman of all time, as she likes to call herself, another critic pointed out that Shields says she needs more time, but her last performances lacked even the most basic defense. “So boxing is tougher because the “gwoat” couldn’t hang with the bottom of the barrel in the weakest pro promotion?,” the comment read.
So, for now, Claressa Shields is out of MMA as confirmed by her, while in boxing, she remains active and ready to fight Lani Daniels in a boxing bout on July 26 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, United States. Do you think pulling out of MMA was the right choice for Shields?
The post “Female Boxing Is Dead” – Fans Divided as Claressa Shields Confirms Retirement After Only 3 Fights in MMA appeared first on EssentiallySports.
