Claressa Shields’ manager said it’s possible she will have her first cage fight before the end of year.
Mark Taffet told ESPN that he and his client believe the three-division titleholder can continue to box and pursue a second career in Mixed Martial Arts simultaneously.
“There hasn’t been a conversation about moving full time,” Taffet said. “It’s all been a discussion about being the next great two-sport athlete.”
Shields, 24, has trained with MMA stars Cris Cyborg and Kayla Harrison and, according to ESPN, plans to work with UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones next month.
“She got her feet wet athletically, her toe in the water athletically,” Taffet said. “The next step for us would be to look at a few different trainers and coaches and speak to them and then decide who an appropriate coach and trainer would be and then make a plan for her to begin training while she continues to blaze trails in boxing.”
Shields told ESPN last year that she wouldn’t want to enter the octagon unless she trained in MMA for a year.
“Just the stuff that I don’t know, like jiu-jitsu and kicking and all that stuff if I wanted to consider it,” said Shields, who was less serious about the move at the time.
Said Taffet: “Claressa doesn’t put timetables on it because she is carefully and rigorously investigating all aspects of the sport and the organizations. But we would like to do something in the cage at the end of 2020 or surely within 12 months.”
Taffet said he has spoken with all four major promotions – UFC, Bellator, PFL and ONE Championship — about working with Shields but no decisions have been made.
Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) is coming off a one-sided decision victory over Ivana Habazin on Jan. 10. That victory gave her titles in three weight classes in only 10 fights, which is a record regardless of gender.