By: Hans Themistode
Women’s boxing has always been placed on the back burner of the sport. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t gain the sort of traction or attention that it’s male contemporary.
Two division champion and self proclaimed greatest female fighter of all time, Claressa Shields, has done her part in changing the perception that is surrounding women’s boxing. It isn’t just that she has captured two Olympic gold medals. Nor is it because through nine professional contests she has already won world titles in two different divisions. Although those reasons play a part in it, the reasoning behind her fame and notoriety is because of her otherworldly skill level.
On the tenth of January in 2020, Shields will look to add another world title in yet another weight class when she takes on Ivana Habazin.
Hyping up this contest as a 50/50 matchup would be an easy task, but it also wouldn’t be truthful. No one is expecting Shields to struggle with Habazin.
As for who she could be taking on next once she dispatches of Habazin, your guess is as good as mine. The cabinet is extremely bare in women’s boxing. Because of the lack of competition, Shields has began to grow a liking to the world of mixed martial arts. She has even began training for a possible debut in the sport.
Never one to pass up on an opportunity, UFC President Dana White has expressed major interest in matching up Shields with the greatest women’s fighter the UFC has ever seen. Amanda Nunes.
The aforementioned Nunes has a scheduled contest this Saturday night on December 14th, against Germaine de Randamie.
Sitting front row to check out her possible future opponent will be none other than Claressa Shields.
“Claressa Shields is coming,” said White. “She’ll be here Saturday to watch the fight. She’s coming to watch the fight, and I will be honest with you, Claressa Shields’ people and I have talked. I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ve talked. I know they’re both interested in it, too. We’ll see how this whole thing plays out. We have a lot of respect for her, too, and she’s going to come to the fight and should be fun.”
The two star fighters from different combat worlds have expressed a great level of interest in making the contest happen and it should come to the surprise of no one that they both believe that they would annihilate the other if the contest took place in their respective sport.
“If she wants to see me then come to my world,” said Nunes. “We can take a girl from a low ranking right now and put her against Shields and Shields won’t make it past the first round. I’m not a boxer. I’m an MMA fighter. If I wanted to be a boxer then I would’ve been. I respect boxing a lot but its not my world. If she stepped into the cage with me she would stand no chance. Her leg would be done because I would kick her all day. If she makes it past the first round then I would like to see if she can make it through the whole fight.”
Nunes would hold a significant advantage in the cage, but what if the tables were turned and she entered the world of Shields?
“In boxing I would put Amanda Nunes to sleep,” said Shields.
Dreaming and fantasizing about this contest shouldn’t be done just yet. There are too many variables that must take place first. Both women have upcoming contests that they both must get past. Furthermore, if a contest were to materialize, where would it take place? A cage or the ring?
There are too many questions right now and few to no answers. With that being said however, one thing is for sure, if Dana White truly wants this fight to happen, then he’ll get it done.