If you think you’re going to tell Claressa Shields what she can and cannot do, think again.
On Sunday, March 8, in a post on X, the 30-year-old fighter responded directly to comments made by Shannon Sharpe on a recent episode of his podcast “Night Cap,” suggesting she couldn’t beat a male fighter in the ring.
“These guys are so misinformed about boxing, but like Roger Mayweather said, ‘some people don’t know shit about Boxing,’ and since day 1, I’ve been sparring men. It’s a reason I’m running thru these women,” she wrote.
After he doubled down, on March 9, she fired back stronger in a series of posts.
“These guys doing all this chirping are the same guys who cannot punch correctly or fight,” Shields wrote. “@ShannonSharpe you will throw a hip out trying to fight anybody. So let me do my thing & be THE GREATEST. And I’ll sparr Rolly! Just to shut yall a— up! Dead a—!”
In a follow-up post, she continued, “I don’t aspire to fight a Man [rolling on the floor laughing emoji] but I get busy inside that ring flat out! All my sparring partners are men! And everyone knows I’m a banger with quick hands & yes defense go crazy! I don’t post my sparring cause I have 0 to prove.”
Addressing their comments about women’s boxing more broadly, she added, “And I’m not too keen on Anybody, anyone telling Me what the hell I can & can not do. They said Back in 2016 no woman Boxer would ever make $1 million!”
She also pushed back on claims that “women can’t fill out arenas,” pointing to herself and Katie Taylor as proof that that isn’t true.
Shields, who is currently ranked No. 1 in women’s boxing, made history as one of the highest-paid women in the sport and most recently won her latest fight in February, came up in conversation again on Monday’s episode as Sharpe sat down with Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and Iso Joe Johnson.
“Claressa, you’re not beating a male-trained fighter. You’re not,” Sharpe said. “If that was the case, you would have fought men. They’re not going to sanction it. We’re not saying that you were a bad woman’s fighter. You’re great, you’re the GWOAT: You’re the greatest woman of all time. We’re conceding that.”
He also referenced Serena Williams, saying, “Serena is the greatest woman’s tennis player ever. She says, ‘I’m not beating a male. I’m not beating a male tennis player!’”
However, while Williams has said she likely would not win in a match against a top-rated male player, she has also explained that the difference largely comes down to style of play, noting that men’s tennis is essentially a different sport.
Sharpe also noted the division between men’s and women’s leagues, declaring, “If they could do a physical sport with men and women, they would do it. But they have a woman’s league and they have a men’s league. There’s a reason why.”
The back and forth arrives amid a busy few months for the boxer, who has been embroiled in several beefs since the year kicked off. While her tensions with her latest opponent, Franchón Crews-Dezurn, can be chalked up to standard pre-fight rivalry, she was also pulled into the ongoing feud between 50 Cent and her current partner, Papoose.
But it hasn’t been all naysayers. Days after her victory against Crews-Dezurn, male boxing star Shakur Stevenson called her the “greatest female boxer to ever do it.”
“People don’t understand. I think that’s the greatest female fighter to ever do it with no question,” he said during an appearance on “All The Smoke Fight.”
Of her big rematch in February, he said: “She did her thing.”
“I thought Claressa went in there and did her thing. I felt like she was at the highest level of boxing,” he said.
After offering a friendly suggestion that she hit to the body more, something he admitted he needs to improve in the same area himself, he said, “Clarissa, the truth.”
In a direct response to Sharpe’s comments, and as he was pulled mildly into the fray, he defended her writing in a post on X, “I got Claressa over Shannon Sharpe in a boxing match facts.”
