Comments Thread For: Claressa Shields Holds Off Savannah Marshall's Late Rally, Becomes Undisputed

[Smash]

Exactly. I might have to start bringing out their post before the fight.

very few had marshal to win that one

[joseph5620]

very few had marshal to win that one

Bullsh it.

[Cypocryphy]

Her personality is no different than like 50% of fighters.

The same people who love Muhammad Ali telling everybody he's pretty and he's the greatest and love Tyson Fury can't stand Shields, who's accomplishments justify everything she says

It's not just race, there's also some gender dynamics at play.

Where they'll take a male with a certain personality, but not a woman

And then, there's a class dynamic, where Shields is a girl from the hood and sounds like a girl from the hood.

So, it's a mix of Black, female, ****** that makes people hate her for stuff that other athletes that maybe have some of those attribute, but not all of them do.

That's why I support her.

She drives so many people crazy just by being herself

Yeah. I think that's what it's about. I think you nailed it. It's her personality combined with her being a woman. She's got a man's personality in a woman's body. And she has that irreverent attitude that you get from poverty and a hard life.

But ... with Muhamed Ali, I think people (some) could tell that he was doing it for show. Plus he had charisma. Charisma lets you get away with a lot. I hear people saying that Shakur will be the next Mayweather but I don't think so because Shakur doesn't have the charisma that Floyd had. So there are some intangible dynamics involved here. And Ali took his persona from wrestling. He understood that he had to be showman. Ali was able to tap into that collective consciousness that WWE wrestling has been able to tap into for almost a century now. Clarissa, however, has a jarring, belligerent personality that takes everything personally. Ali handled things with charm.

I think there are some intangible elements there for why people are put off by Shields. But I also think you are right when you say it's due to her being a woman with that personality. She comes off very man-like.

[Cypocryphy]

It's interesting reading all of these comments. There's a lot of talk about the race card, and there seems to be split opinions as to who won.

Here are the facts:

1) Shields won clearly on points in a competitive fight.

2) Shields outclassed Marshall in the area of skills.

3) Even though Shields won on points, the fight could've still swung Marshalls way. You could tell that Shields was affected by Marshall's power. She had to dig down to avoid being stopped or dropped. She handled adversity like a champion.

4) I'm Black, and really did not care for Shields going into any fight. However, I felt she was the better boxer and would outclass Marshall.

5) The biography regarding Shields' actually humanized her a bit in my eyes. She also seems to have handlers working on improving her image

6) She handled herself like a class act on fight night.

7) She, along with Alycia Baumgardner were class acts. They were very entertaining (their ring entrances were stellar), and they fought excellent fights.

8) They were both heavily booed by the British crowd - not soley because of their personalities, but because they are Black.

Folks hate to admit that race often is a factor.

However if you watched the fights, the reaction of the crowd, and read all of these comments - it would be impossible to ignore that race is a factor. It is.

Unfortunately, this is what our world is.

This is the issue when you immediately jump to race. This is all based on an assumption. You go to the most negative reason while ignoring the most obvious one. Shields was the away fighter. She was from another country. She fought in a place where all the fans (for the most part) were for Marshall. Historically, the boxer without the fans get's booed by the other boxers fans. It doesn't just happen in boxing but all sports. The away team gets booed. That's how it works.

This is the problem when people want to blame everything on race, especially when the more obvious explanation is ignored. I'm sure there were some racists in the crowd because there are racists everywhere, with every skin color. That's unfortunately the world we live in right now. But you need to look at your own state of mind and ask yourself if you are jumping to conclusions without any evidence to pack it up, especially when there are better explanations. More obvious ones.

[Lefty0616]

This is the issue when you immediately jump to race. This is all based on an assumption. You go to the most negative reason while ignoring the most obvious one. Shields was the away fighter. She was from another country. She fought in a place where all the fans (for the most part) were for Marshall. Historically, the boxer without the fans get's booed by the other boxers fans. It doesn't just happen in boxing but all sports. The away team gets booed. That's how it works.

This is the problem when people want to blame everything on race, especially when the more obvious explanation is ignored. I'm sure there were some racists in the crowd because there are racists everywhere, with every skin color. That's unfortunately the world we live in right now. But you need to look at your own state of mind and ask yourself if you are jumping to conclusions without any evidence to pack it up, especially when there are better explanations. More obvious ones.

If you know the history of Britain, you'll understand that I'm not jumping to conclusions. And while everyone in the crowd couldn't possibly be racist, the collective infectious tone of the booing was reflective of a sad accumulative reality.

[Smash]

If you know the history of Britain, you'll understand that I'm not jumping to conclusions. And while everyone in the crowd couldn't possibly be racist, the collective infectious tone of the booing was reflective of a sad accumulative reality.

booing is a national pastime in some countries, almost everyone and everything gets booed at one time or another

[buddyr]

very few had marshal to win that one

bull****. most of this site picked her to win. lol

[mjh1969]

Her personality is no different than like 50% of fighters.

The same people who love Muhammad Ali telling everybody he's pretty and he's the greatest and love Tyson Fury can't stand Shields, who's accomplishments justify everything she says

It's not just race, there's also some gender dynamics at play.

Where they'll take a male with a certain personality, but not a woman

And then, there's a class dynamic, where Shields is a girl from the hood and sounds like a girl from the hood.

So, it's a mix of Black, female, ****** that makes people hate her for stuff that other athletes that maybe have some of those attribute, but not all of them do.

That's why I support her.

She drives so many people crazy just by being herself

I would agree with you on this 100%. After this fight though I think Shields should earn some more respect. She talks a lot because I think that's her personality but in this fight she backed it up. At the post fight conference though she was totally respectful of Marshall as a person and as a fighter. She admitted during the press conference that she was talking a lot because she was trying to get into Marshall's head. I think she is loud partly because it's her personality and also to get attention on her so people can buy tickets for her fights whether they want to see her win or lose.

There was a point in which I couldn't stand Shields but after seeing many of her interviews and her fight with Marshall I support her. Face to face, Shields is very very respectful with people.

[mjh1969]

Savannah Marshall's trainer's are worthless. They lost that fight for Savannah and never gave her a chance to win. With her size and reach Savannah should have been on the outside with a constant Jab and combinations. It's a disgrace how Savannah's trainer's trained her to fight this fight. Maybe she loses anyways but they never gave her a chance by training her to fight that way.

Agreed. Marshall was taller than Shields and should have used her height and reach much much better. She bobbed and weaved when she didn't have to at times wasted lots of energy. I would have her jabbing a lot with the one two. Stiff left jab with a right hand to follow. She should've invested in more bodywork as well. I think if she fights Shields or anyone else again and wants to win another title, Marshall should find another trainer ASAP. Peter Fury totally messed her up. Someone like Abel Sanchez would be better for Marshall. His style would have her fighting more like GGG who worked a lot behind a stiff jab and used his power effectively in his prime.

[hhh1200]

Agreed. Marshall was taller than Shields and should have used her height and reach much much better. She bobbed and weaved when she didn't have to at times wasted lots of energy. I would have her jabbing a lot with the one two. Stiff left jab with a right hand to follow. She should've invested in more bodywork as well. I think if she fights Shields or anyone else again and wants to win another title, Marshall should find another trainer ASAP. Peter Fury totally messed her up. Someone like Abel Sanchez would be better for Marshall. His style would have her fighting more like GGG who worked a lot behind a stiff jab and used his power effectively in his prime.

As I posted many times, Shields was going to throw combos between the bobbing and weaving. 7-3 rounds. If Shields could punch Marshall would have been on the canvas.