DETROIT – Boxing is a love story for Claressa Shields.
“Boxing is the only thing that I’ve loved that gave me the same type of love back. So boxing is what I was chosen to do,” Shields told the media after she won Sunday’s rematch with Franchon Crews-Dezurn. “God chose me to do this, and I’m gonna keep representing for women’s boxing and keep representing for me. Nobody can take my confidence. Nobody can take away my grind, my hard work.”
Boxing is a love story for Shields – and that story is far from over.
“I am who I say I am. I’ve been a great for a long time now,” said the self-proclaimed GWOAT, or Greatest Woman of All Time. “I’m just getting better and better and just learning myself. And I think that I’m gonna continue to grow, and I’m looking forward to fighting a few more times this year.”
Shields, now 18-0 (3 KOs), has a couple of names in mind for those upcoming fights. And she also has a very important goal outside of boxing – motherhood.
“I would like to fight against Shadasia [Green]. Y’all boogey-woman, whatever. I want to fight against her. And then I would like to have a catch-weight fight with Mikaela Mayer at 162-163 [lbs].”
Green, 16-1 (11 KOs), is the unified IBF and WBO super middleweight titleholder, as well as the Ring Magazine and lineal champion by virtue of her split decision victory last July over Savannah Marshall. She is on a three-fight winning streak since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Crews-Dezurn in December 2023.
Mayer, 22-2 (5 KOs), is a former unified junior lightweight titleholder who went on to win a secondary belt at lightweight and primary titles in two more weight classes. She remains the WBO welterweight titleholder and, this past October, defeated Mary Spencer to capture three belts at 154lbs before vacating one last month.
Although Shields is the undisputed heavyweight champion, she came in at 174lbs for this bout and appeared as if she could comfortably drop additional weight. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s done so. Shields turned pro at super middleweight and subsequently moved down to middleweight and then junior middleweight before going back up the scale for the sake of making fights and history.
Given how shallow the pool of talent is in the heavier weight classes in women’s boxing – and the pool of notable stars is even shallower – it’s not at all surprising that both Shields and Mayer would be willing to face each other outside of their respective weight classes.
As for motherhood, well, Shields brought that up while seated with her young niece.
“This is not my child, but I want to have my own kids,” she said. “So in 2027, I think I want to take some time off and have my own kid.”
That doesn’t mean Shields has got one foot out of the door. The drive that took her from an incredibly rough childhood to two Olympic gold medals – a journey chronicled in a Hollywood movie – apparently remains strong even after what she has achieved after fighting professionally since late 2016.
“I’m always pushing myself to be the best boxer that I can be,” she said. “Because once I hang these gloves up, I can never come back to being 30 years old again and being this strong and fast. So I want to take advantage of it while I’m this young. And when I turn 35, hopefully I’ll be able to still be as strong as fast and everything. But I just want to see how great can I really be to myself. And that's really what it’s really about for me.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
