Tag: Shields next fight

Claressa Shields: Longer rounds, more time to score KOs

Claressa Shields says longer rounds would give her more time to knock out her opponents.

Claressa Shields evidently thinks about her relatively low knockout percentage.

Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) would like to see women fight three-minute rounds instead of two minutes, as the men do. That way, the three-division titleholder says, she’ll have more time to finish off her opponents.

Some women’s bouts have had three-minute rounds but that’s not standard.

“I can think of so many of my fights where I was putting girls through hell for two minutes,” Shields told BoxingScene.com. “Then they get that one minute rest and come in refreshed. If it was three minutes, a lot of these girls would quit.

“I think it’s going to take one of the [female] champions to fight a three-minute round for 12 rounds. When they see that the top women fighters are willing to do it, everyone will get on board, and promoters would pay us fairly.

“They’ll understand that we’re putting the same amount of time as the men. Personally, me and my team have talked about it a few times. After my next fight with Marie Eve Dicaire, we are going to look forward to fighting three-minute rounds.

“We want to do everything for women’s boxing to have equality.”

Shields told BoxingScene.com that she already runs three-minute sprints and hits the bag for 3 minutes, 30 seconds at a time.

“Proper preparation prevents poor performance,” she said. “I’m trying to make sure I’m in great shape for three minute rounds. It’s about balance. In three minutes, I can show my skills and be aggressive. I can box, and I can bang.”

Shields was supposed to have fought Dicaire (17-0, 0 KOs) on May 9 but it didn’t happen because of the coronavirus pandemic. No date is set but they are expected to meet before the end of the year.

Shields respects the French-Canadian.

“She can be aggressive, box well and move on her feet,” Shields told BoxingScene.com. “She looks heavy in the legs, so she probably can take a punch. All of the girls are different, and she has a different boxing style.

“I look forward to fighting her. I’m gonna whoop her ass too. Any girl that gets in the ring with me, she’s going to have the same result – a loss. People say she doesn’t have power, but just because she doesn’t get knockouts doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a lot of power.

“I can say that from my own experience. I have more power than any woman that I’ve fought, but I’m not getting knockouts. Boxing is a sweet science.”

Christy Martin believes Laila Ali would KO Claressa Shields

Christy Martin believes that Laila Ali not only would beat Shields if they were to fight, she would do it easily.

Conventional wisdom is that a young, prime Claressa Shields would be too much for a 42-year-old who hasn’t fought in 13 years. Laila Ali has at least one person in her corner, though: former opponent Christy Martin.

Martin believes that Ali not only would beat Shields if they were to fight, she would do it easily. Ali stopped Martin in four rounds in 2003.

“I think Laila smokes her,” Martin told RingTV.com. “It takes her now six or seven rounds whereas back when she fought me it would probably take her the same amount of time that she got rid of me. At least that fast, if not faster,”

Of course, we might never know how that fight would play out. Shields and Ali, now a television personality, have expressed interest in fighting one another but evidently it would take a fortune to lure Ali out of retirement.

And for the record: Shields and Martin have not been on the best of terms. They’ve exchanged unfriendly posts on social media, which apparently started when Martin questioned Shields’ contention that she’s the greatest woman boxer of all time.

In fact, Martin doesn’t believe that Shields is even the best woman boxer today. She thinks lightweight titleholder Katie Taylor is No. 1.

“Even though Katie Taylor’s been in a lot of close, controversial fights, maybe she’s the most solid skilled fighter,” Martin said. “She’s in a weight class where there are other very skilled competitive fighters, much like in the ’90s, when between 135 and 147 there was a s–tload of really good women’s fighters. That’s kind of where she is right now.

“She’s there where there’s more talent that will push her which in the long run will make her better. I know there’s still a lot of controversy about [the Delfine Persoon fight] in The Garden. It was very close but I think she’s solid. I like her.”

Martin was recently selected to be part of the first class of women boxers in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.