A Claressa Shields interview is rarely a boring affair, but her appearance on the latest edition of The Ariel Helwani Show left plenty to chew on even by her standards.
The most accomplished fighter in women’s boxing today and self-proclaimed GWOAT gave behind-the-scenes details on her lucrative re-signing with Salita Promotions and Wynn Records, called out fans for not appreciating Franchon Crews-Dezurn’s recent win over Shadasia Green, didn’t immediately recognize the name of Christy actress Sydney Sweeney, asked Helwani if he’d ever been in a fight, and said she was shopping for a private jet.
That’s a lot. But coming from Shields, 17-0 (3 KOs), the ambition and scope of her responses was illuminating. Shields is not only a near-consensus pound-for-pound number one but is yet to even meet her pugilistic match, and not for lack of trying – she’s cleared out every weight division between 154 and 175lbs. Despite all that, she remains forward-thinking.
Shields’ new deal is worth $8 million for two years. She told Helwani that “It was worth it, but it was so difficult,” and that she talked to virtually everybody else available before inking the contract. In particular, Shields said she was “super close” to signing with MVP Promotions, and talked frequently with CEO Nakisa Bidarian. In the end, “it wasn’t enough money.”
“The only person I wasn’t able to talk to was Turki Alalshikh. I think that’s because he’s not really big on women yet,” Shields added. “He’s very hard to contact, man!”
Shields’ deal is for four fights over the next two years, and despite her dominance over everybody you could reasonably expect her to fight – a significant portion of the interview concerned her attempts to make a fight with Laila Ali and her disappointment that Ali declined a $15 million offer – she had no shortage of motivation.
“Anybody that wanna get beat up by the GWOAT can fight the GWOAT,” said the 30-year-old Shields. “I got enough time to fight everybody.”
But Shields also wants to blaze a trail for those who come after her. As nice as $8 million in two years is, Shields said, “I want to make it to where the girls coming up after me can make $25 million deals, and $50 million deals. That’s what I’m trying to get to, and show them a blueprint.”
Shields backed up her concern for other fighters with a response to a Helwani question about changes to the Ali Act.
“I think that the Ali Act is what protects fighters, giving us the knowledge of our deal structure with our promoter, what’s the revenue, making sure we’re getting paid fairly. I don’t think it should be changed,” she said. “I think it’s a little crazy, but I feel like boxing has become a thing where it’s hard to make fights, because these guys want certain money, and they want to put rules and laws in place to where they can force these fights and also keep majority of the money, which I think is not good for fighters.” Though she didn’t name Zuffa Boxing, she did mention its co-founder Dana White and Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season.
Shields said she hopes to announce her next fight in two or three weeks. Despite her love for the fight, she allowed that the rest has let some lingering injuries, which dogged her in recent fights, finally heal.
“I’m just ready to get back inside the ring and continue to be great.”
