Claressa Shields has slammed the door on a possible rematch with Savannah Marshall, insisting she is “way past” that.
The American star had a fierce rivalry with Britain’s Marshall, dating from a 2011 amateur contest, which culminated in their 2022 undisputed middleweight showdown.
Shields won in style and now the two-time Olympic gold medallist has risen all the way to become the first undisputed heavyweight world champion in women’s boxing.
The unbeaten fighter from Flint dismissed Marshall as a possible challenger at heavyweight.
“The way that I beat Savannah, unanimous decision,” Shields told Sky Sports. “I’m way past a fight with Savannah.
“I think that there’s better competition out there, like a Mikaela Mayer, like a Lauren Price, who is an Olympic champion from Great Britain. I would love to fight against those girls.
“I think that Savannah has used my name for a very long time to build herself. She’s lived off the amateur win that happened when I was 16 or 17. She lived off of it and then when we fought I destroyed her.
“She thought she was going to come to the US and fight Shadasia [Green] and win, and lost. And now she’s lost on what to do. But she should be focused on fighting girls who she can actually beat. Because she can’t beat me.”
Shields puts her heavyweight championship on the line against Franchon Crews-Dezurn at the Little Ceasars Arena in Detroit on February 22.
Naturally she expects to be victorious but rather than stay at heavyweight she would be willing to move down to box Mayer or Price, current welterweight world champions. Price notably, like Shields before her, was an Olympic gold medallist at middleweight.
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Watch highlights of the epic battle between Shields and Marshall – a fight-of-the-year contender!
“I’m fighting Franchon in a little over two weeks. I reckon I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do and get the job done correctly, I will then fight against Shadasia Green and then after Shadasia Green it’s been talked of Mikaela Mayer fighting me at 163, 165lb. Same thing with Lauren Price. I’m willing to go down and fight those girls, if they’re really serious about it,” Shields said.
“I’m willing to go down to 163, 165lb and make some of the biggest fights. But I’m not going to 160 without no belts.”
However, she warned her prospective challengers: “I’m not ever going to slow down and if these girls can’t keep up they’re just going to keep getting smoked.
“But that’s not my problem. My job is to work my hardest, train my smartest, diet right and fight the best. And I’ve been doing that now for nine years.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
