‘Fighting Words’ – Claressa Shields: Not just history, but necessity

Claressa Shields calls herself the GWOAT, or the Greatest Woman of All Time. That’s for history to decide. For now, two things are certain. She’s clearly talented – and if she’s the greatest woman boxer of all time, then she’s also unfortunately ahead of her time.

She’s ahead of her time even though women’s boxing has come a long way from where it once was – a long way since not that long ago. 

There are more fighters than there used to be. More of those fighters earn larger checks than their predecessors and are featured more regularly on television. That’s thanks in part to the talent and efforts of fighters like Shields, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor, as well as several other names – combined with the increasing willingness of promoters and broadcasters to feature women’s boxing.

But there still aren’t enough viable opponents remaining for Shields at the heavier weight classes where she competes. Which means that there aren’t as many opportunities for Shields to get the paydays and broadcast time she deserves.

That’s why Shields has moved into other combat sports, competing in three mixed martial arts bouts in the Professional Fighters League. That’s also why Shields has moved up and down through weight classes – and is about to do it again.

This Saturday, Shields will compete in her fourth weight division. After winning world titles at 168 pounds, becoming undisputed champion at 160 and 154, then returning to middleweight to reassert her queendom, she will step up to 175 to challenge Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. Their fight will air on DAZN as the main event at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The match will be for Lepage-Joanisse’s WBC’s world title in this weight class, which that sanctioning body confusingly calls “heavyweight.” The vacant WBO light heavyweight belt is also on the line.

The fights Shields seeks are about making history. In a way, they are part of her effort of working toward equality. But they’re also taken out of necessity.

Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist who has sought out challenges in the pros via the same approach – you can’t be the best unless you beat the best of the rest. That’s what we want all fighters to do. Instead, too many male boxers often weigh the risk versus the reward. For many women boxers, the risk and reward aren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s no wonder that Shields has moved up and down and back up on the scales. She needs challenges, and she quickly runs through most of the challenges that exist in shallow weight classes. 

Shields won her first world titles in her fourth fight – against the unbeaten Nikki Adler for two belts. At the time, Shields and Adler were two of just 23 female super middleweights in the world.

In July 2024, BoxRec lists 35 women in the super middleweight division, 36 women in the middleweight division, and 58 women at junior middleweight. There are a few notable names who aren’t ranked due to inactivity – Shields and Savannah Marshall, for example, aren’t listed because they have been out of the ring for more than a year. Even with that, and even with the caveat that BoxRec’s rankings are based on an algorithm, there’s a clear dropoff in each of those weight classes once you get past the first tier of titleholders, contenders and prospects.

The number five super middleweight (who would be six if Marshall were ranked) has a record of 8-5-2, hasn’t won a fight since 2016 (down at lightweight), and has never defeated anyone with a winning record. The number nine middleweight (who would be 10th if Shields were ranked) is all of 1-1-1. Even at junior middleweight, which has more depth, the 15th-ranked fighter is 2-5-1.

Looking at ”The Ring” rankings, Shields has already defeated the super-middleweight champion (Marshall) and the next-best name on the list (Franchon Crews-Dezurn). She’s bested the top middleweight contender (Marshall, ranked in two weight classes) and two of the junior middleweights (Femke Hermans and Eva Kozin, who were competing at middleweight when they faced Shields).

It’s no wonder that Shields is looking elsewhere while essentially waiting for the super middleweight and middleweight divisions to restock – for prospects to develop into contenders and become worthwhile challengers, even if they otherwise don’t prove to be challenging (Shields shouldn’t be expected to cut down to 154 again, especially after moving up in weight for this bout).

It’s also no wonder, given the limited broadcast dates from boxing’s TV networks and streaming outlets, that Shields put on her own pay-per-view in 2021, went overseas to the United Kingdom for a pair of fights and a TV deal there, and has – like other women boxers of the past and present – gone into mixed martial arts.

Shields, 14-0 (2 KOs) as a boxer, is 2-1 in MMA. She won her first Professional Fighters League bout in 2021, lost her second via split decision that same year, then won a split decision this February. Marshall has also joined up with the PFL and won her debut in June.

There’s not much depth awaiting Shields at light heavyweight, either. BoxRec lists just 21 women – it would be 22 if it didn’t erroneously have Lepage-Joanisse as a heavyweight. 

The top three, per BoxRec, are the IBF titleholder Lani Daniels (10-2-2, 1 KO), Abril Argentina Vidal (10-2, 4 KOs) – who lost to Lepage-Joanisse in March – and WBA titleholder Che Kenneally (5-0, 2 KOs), who has been pro for a mere 16 months.

Among those ranked after them – the No. 4 light heavyweight, Angelica Lopez Flores, was knocked out in a pair of super middleweight matches against Shadasia Green in 2022 and Melinda Watpool in 2023. The No. 9 light heavyweight is 2-4 and hasn’t won a fight since 2017. The women ranked 10th through to 12th are each 1-0. And everyone else – 13th through 21st – has never won a professional boxing match.

Lepage-Joanisse is herself untested. She is 7-1 (2 KOs), with her career split evenly between two stages. Lepage-Joanisse first fought from 2016 to 2017 – winning three fights before getting stopped in three rounds by Alejandra Jimenez. Both fighters topped 230 pounds for that bout. When Lepage-Joanisse returned to the ring in 2023, she was down at about 185 pounds. She won three fights and then moved down to the 175-pound weight class this March – winning the vacant WBC belt with a split decision over Vidal.

Vidal had spent almost all of her career all the way down at junior middleweight, stepped away from the sport in 2019, returned in 2022 as a light heavyweight, outpointed an opponent with a record of 0-3-3 and then fought Lepage-Joanisse for the WBC’s vacant title 17 months later.

None of this is an indictment of Shields. She can only face who is out there and ready – and she would surely be criticized if she faced opponents who weren’t yet ready.

The lighter weight classes are in better shape, though many are still in need of more depth. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with Ava Knight almost a decade ago, at a time when I was working on an article about the lack of opportunities for women boxers in the United States.

“I go where the fights are at and what people want to see,” Knight said at the time. She had held a world title at flyweight and unsuccessfully challenged for belts at 108, 115 and 118. “It’s frustrating because you want to be able to stay at one class and hold the title for a long time just like the men get to do,” Knight said. “They hold it for a long time and then they go up. The women, we don’t have that type of competition, so we jump up and down, get different titles.”

Knight spoke to me hours after a win in Washington, D.C. – her first fight back in the United States after three years in Mexico.

“The United States is sadly the worst place for women to fight,” she said at the time. “In Europe, the women get treated very well. Even in Mexico, they’re not looked at the same as we are over here [in the U.S., where we’re] kind of like a sideshow or the beginning of a show. In Mexico, we’re main events; we’re pay-per-views. We get a lot of credit, but over here it’s kind of hard. Money-wise, you’re looking at four or five times more when you go away.”

She told me she wanted to continue competing in America “to build something here.” Instead, she stepped away for a bit to try out for the WWE, returned to the boxing ring in 2016 with a pair of fights back in Mexico, then finished her career in 2021 after three years back in the United States.

“What the United States needs is a woman to stay here and build something up instead of keep moving,” she said back in 2014. She pointed to how Ronda Rousey’s success helped lift the stature of women in mixed martial arts and led to a greater level of talent. “I’ve been to Mexico so much that everybody knows me in Mexico, but who am I here? I’m nobody. Now it’s time for that to change.”

Things have improved in boxing in the time since. Back then, an ESPN executive told me: “We’re not actively pursuing a female boxing event, but we’d certainly consider it.” Since then, women’s boxing has gained a greater foothold with promoters and networks. Just a few examples: Mikaela Mayer appeared regularly on ESPN; Amanda Serrano has thrived with the promotional backing and marketing savvy of Jake Paul. Serrano and Katie Taylor headlined at Madison Square Garden. Other women perform regularly on broadcasts in the U.S. and U.K.

Olympic boxing added women’s tournaments in 2012. That year, a total of 36 women competed in three weight classes. By the 2020/2021 Games, there were 102 women fighting in five weight classes. At this summer’s Olympics, there will be 124 women competing across six weight classes.

More amateur boxers now means deeper divisions in the pros later. Deeper divisions in the pros means more fighters and fights worthy of attention. More fighters and fights worthy of attention means more women will seek out the sport. And all of that happens because of fighters like Shields, Serrano, Taylor and a number of others who are increasing the popularity of women’s boxing in countries that lagged behind other parts of the world.

Shields calls herself the GWOAT, but she has never considered herself the only woman in boxing who deserves to be in the spotlight. Her 2021 pay-per-view undercard featured three other women’s fights. Saturday’s show will feature two women’s fights, albeit in the prelims rather than on the main broadcast undercard .

Shields has long been vocal about trying to create better conditions for female fighters. Ahead of this fight with Lepage-Joanisse, she once again took advantage of the opportunity to speak about the state of women’s boxing.

Even between fights, Shields has used her platform to speak and post on social media in support of other women in the sport – aside from a recent social media spat with Serrano over the GWOAT nickname – seeking not just to influence the future but also to use her own rising tide to lift the other boats.

All of which may someday produce another fighter who will supplant Shields as the GWOAT. Time will tell. But no matter how long Shields retains the self-proclaimed label as the Greatest Woman of All Time, she and her contemporaries will have earned respect not only for who they fought, but how they paved the way for others.

Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.